Life Is Worth Living
by Witch of the West
Summary: Join Oliver Wood as he captains Puddlemere United's eccentric team. He's in charge of a Slytherin, Harry Potter, two twin American Beaters and others. Watch as he learns to enjoy life and love something other than Quidditch.
1. The Beginning of a New Season

**Summary: **It's the first Quidditch season after the war and what a better way to kick it off than by visiting our favorite Quidditch player, Oliver Wood. As the Captain for Puddlemere United, he takes on two Americans, an old teammate, a Slytherin and several other wacky characters in the world of Quidditch. Follow him through this season of ups and downs as he finds out what means more to him than Quidditch and how to really enjoy life for what it is.

**Notes: **This is mostly going to be an Oliver Wood-centric story. Sadly, sometimes the characters have minds of their own and like to try to take over the story. If they do, I apologize in advance.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing you recognize. If I did, I would be richer than the queen, and we all know how true _that_ is.

**Life Is Worth Living**

Oliver Wood looked around the locker room of the Puddlemere United Quidditch team as he put his bag containing his uniform down on the bench in front of his locker. He looked around at the lockers containing their owner's names on the front. Three lockers were blank. One would soon go to the renowned Harry Potter. After the war was over, all of the Aurors were able to go about pursuing their dreams, if being an Auror wasn't their dream. Harry Potter had chosen to enter the world of professional Quidditch and had taken Oliver up on his offer to try for the Puddlemere team. They were in desperate need for a Seeker. And as he had proved in his first year at Hogwarts, Harry was just the catch for the Puddlemere Seeker job. Harry had only been an Auror for a year. The Ministry had hurried all eligible witches and wizards through the program. They were running out of people fast, even though they weren't hasty to admit it.

Oliver ran a hand through his hair as he remembered the countless number of friends that had joined up without so much as a draft. He had been close to join them but when his mother had approached him and told him that if her only son were to join up in the war she would never speak to him again. She would find some way to make sure he was banned from playing Quidditch ever again. Oliver knew that this wasn't an empty threat. He knew full well that his mother could do it. Coming from a long standing pureblood family, Oliver knew how much influence his parents had in the wizarding community. And he knew how much he would soon have. He also knew that his mother wanted him to produce an heir to the family… and fast. She kept pestering him to find a girlfriend, settle down and get married. Oliver, however, had different plans. He was the second year Captain of Puddlemere and enjoying every minute of it. He couldn't be bothered with starting a family now.

Now it's wrong to say that Oliver didn't want a family. He did want a family. He could see himself with a wife and children, teaching his children to play the game he had loved since he, himself, was a child. He just didn't feel that it was fair for him to start a family while he was still in the height of his Quidditch career. He didn't think it would be fair to his family. He was a sensible guy, that Oliver.

He looked at the two remaining blank lockers. Soon they would be stating the names of the owners, two American Beaters. The team manager, Simon Barker, had a hard time finding two Beaters he found to be adequate enough to play on the team. He had taken Oliver to the States to watch some Quidditch matches around the country. When Simon and Oliver arrived in Seattle they were at their wits end. Nothing had turned up promising. That was until they saw the Reynolds twins. The twins worked together seamlessly. Oliver hadn't seen any pair of Beaters fly like that, and he worked with the Weasley twins! Oliver knew then that twins were the way to go when choosing Beaters.

Simon had tried to sign them right there but their parents had to be notified and co-sign the contract. The legal age in America was still eighteen. The twins were only seventeen at the time. So Simon did what any good manager would do. He waited the two months that the twins had left until they hit the legal age. When those two months was up, Simon dragged Oliver back to Seattle to convince the twins to sign to Puddlemere. The only problem was finding them again. School had been let out for the summer and the twins were Muggle-born. Another barrier.

Eventually Simon and Oliver found their house in the suburbs of Seattle. Simon had to pull a few strings with their headmaster to get their address and other useful information. When the two Brits had knocked on the door to the large Reynolds house, Skyler Reynolds had been the one to answer. The short seventeen year old young woman was shocked, to say the least, when she saw who was standing on the other side of the door.

"I didn't think we'd ever see you two again," she had said to them after giving them long looks.

"We really want you on our team," Simon had told her and she let them into the house.

Simon and Oliver were led into the family room and Skyler called for her brother, Alexander, to join them. Where Skyler was short, Alexander was tall. It was hard to believe at some points that they were twins. Fraternal twins, yes, but twins nonetheless. They shared the same piercing deep blue eyes and the dark auburn hair. Alexander's was browner than Skyler's was, however. When their parents, Matthew and Sarah, entered the room Oliver could feel the tension. Here he was trying to convince two kids to join a professional Quidditch team a country and an ocean away, and he still had to convince their parents. It was going to be a tough sell, he had reckoned.

"Skyler, Alex, why don't you take Mr. Wood into the kitchen and see if he wants anything to eat or drink?" Sarah Reynolds told her children. "Your father and I need to speak with Mr. Barker alone."

Skyler and Alex got up without a word, motioning for Oliver to follow them. He did and found that they had led him to a large kitchen far enough from the family room to not be overheard but near enough to still see what was going on. Skyler and Alex took seats at the island, grabbing some fruit out of the ceramic bowl sitting there.

"Do you want anything?" Alex asked Oliver. The latter shook his head and sat on the other side of the island, waiting.

"Why do you want us so bad?" Skyler asked; a few bites into her apple.

"To be honest, you're the only two decent players we've seen in several months. Not to say that you're only decent. The two of you are outstanding. I've never seen anything like it," Oliver explained. The twins looked at each other, communicating without talking. Oliver felt a little unnerved and left out as he watched them.

"But we're just kids. We just graduated," Alex said. "Mom and Dad were surprised enough when they found out that we were magical. I don't know how they feel about us going into a professional sport in that world."

"Mom almost threw a conniption when we told her what you and Simon had told us," Skyler asked, a small smile on her face. Oliver felt a smile form on his face as well. "She just about told us to go have our heads examined."

"Yeah, Mom was a little peeved," Alex agreed and the two siblings laughed together.

"Hopefully Simon's being his usual charming self and is currently on his way to getting your parents to agree to this," Oliver said. "It's too bad that the legal age here isn't seventeen. That's what it is back in Britain."

"Damn," Alex said. "Could you imagine all the stuff we could get away with if they lowered the age?"

"Yeah," Skyler said with a wistful sigh. She finished with her apple and tossed the core over Oliver's shoulder and into the garbage disposal of the sink. It went clean in. Oliver looked at her with wide eyes.

"You play Chaser as well?" he asked. Skyler shrugged.

"Only in the off-season," she told him. "We take turns being the Chaser so we can practice our Beating skills. We've gotten pretty good at both. But, before you get any ideas, we prefer being Beaters."

Oliver smiled and nodded. "I figured."

Just then Simon and the Reynolds parents entered the kitchen. Alex and Skyler looked at their parents, awaiting an answer. Sarah sighed before she spoke.

"We've signed the papers," she told them. "You can go."

The kitchen was filled with hoots and hollers as the twins jumped up and hugged everyone in the room… twice, including each other. Chants of "We're going to London!" could be heard from the neighbors' houses.

Oliver chuckled to himself as he remembered what had transpired in Seattle a few weeks ago.

"What's so funny, Captain?" a voice asked. Oliver looked up to see the objects of his memory standing before him. He smiled and shook his head.

"Nothing," he told them. The twins looked at each other before shrugging and putting their bags in front of two empty lockers. "You'll be getting your names on them some time soon. Well, at least before the season starts."

"Hey, Captain!" a voice yelled from down the row of lockers. Walking toward them was a large young man of a brute stature. Oliver shook his head and laughed as the young man approached.

"Hey, Chris," Oliver greeted the man. Chris turned to the twins and smiled.

"Hullo, I'm Christopher Warrington. Slytherin. You must be the Reynolds twins. Oliver's told us so much about you," Chris said, holding out a hand for them to shake. Skyler recovered from the obscure introduction first.

"Skyler Reynolds," she said, shaking Chris' hand.

"Pleasure," Chris told her, a charming smile on his face. Skyler could see Oliver roll his eyes, but he was smiling still. Alex shook Chris' hand and told him his name as well.

"What's a Slytherin?" Skyler asked. Oliver and Chris looked at each other before trying to answer. However they were saved the duty of having to do so.

"A Slytherin is a nasty piece of work. A snake, if you will," someone explained. The group turned and saw Harry Potter standing behind them, a smile plastered on his face.

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Potter?" Chris said. Harry smiled wider and greeted Chris warmly. Harry turned to Oliver before turning to the new players.

"I'm Harry Potter," he introduced himself. The twins introduced themselves as well before Harry turned back to Chris. "Of course, I'd know all about that. The only games I enjoyed playing were the Slytherin games."

"Oh, how I remember those," Chris said, a fond smile on his face. "It's almost enough to make me wish I was back in school. Almost." Oliver and Harry laughed. Skyler and Alex still looked confused.

"Hogwarts was broken up into four houses. To be sorted into the houses, you put on the Sorting Hat and it told you were to go. There were Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor," Oliver explained. "There was always a rivalry between Gryffindor, the good house, and Slytherin, the bad house." This brought a scoff of indignation from Chris.

"Gryffindors and Slytherins basically had it out for each other," Harry summed up. "But we all know which house is clearly the better house."

"Hufflepuff?" Skyler asked.

"Exactly," Harry said to her. The teammates continued to catch up or get to know one another. As they talked the remaining players entered the locker room. Chasers Juliet Schmor and Lucinda McCarthy, a married French woman and a married Italian woman, respectively, joined the group and got to know the new players.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Simon Barker started as he arrived in the locker room, carrying a large cardboard box, "the new robes have arrived. Please don't all rush me at once."

No one was rushing toward Simon though; each person just looked at him with a perplexed expression plastered on their faces. Simon was not deterred.

"Ah!" he said, spotting Alex and Skyler. "You actually made it. I thought your parents might have changed their minds and held you back. But no matter, get ready for practice and we'll get out on the pitch."

The team changed into their new practice robes and gear, grabbing their brooms on the way out. Each member on the team had a Firebolt X, the newest model on the market. The brooms had been a gift from an anonymous donor for the new season. The letter from the donor had contained well wishes and a marriage proposal for the Captain. Oliver had blushed to no end when he had read the letter, but politely declined the offer.

Simon was standing in the middle of the pitch with the equipment box when the laughing and smiling team walked onto the grass. Skyler was half-heartedly threatening to beat Chris with her bat when they reached Simon. Each witch and wizard had an eager look on their face as they approached their manager.

"Ready?" Simon asked, kicking open the equipment box. The team nodded as the Snitch zoomed out into the open air. Harry was off like a rocket, soaring after the Snitch as long as he could keep it in sight. The Bludgers were released and Skyler and Alex followed them into the air. Oliver followed them and took his place at the goals. Simon hurtled the Quaffle into the air and soon Chris, Juliet and Lucinda were chasing after it.

When the team touched down after a hard three hours work, Oliver couldn't help diminish the satisfied grin taking over his face. His team was coming together. Alex and Skyler fit right in and the Chasers were better than ever. Harry, of course, needed no reminding that he had earned that spot on the Gryffindor team his first year. Oliver, himself, had done a phenomenal job during the practice. The team started to walk back to the locker room and Oliver was left alone on the pitch.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Skyler.

"That was some good flying, Cap'n. Some of the best I've seen," she told him. She started to walk back to the locker room but turned back before she got to the door. "You better hurry up! We're going to the Leaky Cauldron and we'll leave without you!" Oliver grinned at her before he jogged to catch up. They laughed and he threw a friendly arm around her shoulders as they left the dark pitch behind.

The opening game of the Quidditch season was the Puddlemere and Holyhead game. The Harpies were in town and ready to take on Puddlemere. Fans of all ages filled the stadium, ready to cheer on their favorite team. Oliver was in the locker room prepping his team for the upcoming match.

"We've been practicing for three weeks now," he said as he paced in front of them. "We know each other inside and out. If we stick together and work as a team we'll be able to pull anything off. After all, it's the Harpies. They're not supposed to be that good this year. We'll just do what we do best and get the win today. Keep an eye out, fly straight and give it your all."

The team looked at one another then their Captain.

"I reckon you've gotten better, Oliver," Harry said as he and the rest of the team stood to walk to the pitch. "No more threats of 'catch the Snitch or die trying.' I like this new you."

"Sod off, Potter," Oliver said, calmly as he led his team to the doors. The team laughed and lined up behind their captain.

"And now… the team you've been waiting for," the commentator announced to the stadium. The statement was followed by a roar from the crowd. "Here they are! McCarthy, Reynolds, Reynolds, Schmor, Warrington, Wood, and… Potter!"

The doors to the pitch burst open and the team flew out to the cheers of the fans in the stadium. The team did a lap around the pitch before coming to their places in the air. The Quaffle was tossed into air and they were off.

"Warrington grabs the Quaffle! Warrington, Schmor, McCarthy, back to Warrington! He scores! Thirty seconds into the game and Puddlemere is already ahead!"

The game remained in that vein for the next four hours. When Oliver called a time out the score was 120:30, Puddlemere. Alex and Skyler landed next to Chris and Oliver. Oliver handed them water and they downed the liquid in seconds.

"I didn't know a professional game would be like this," Alex said, sounding a little tired.

"You guys are doing great out there," Oliver told them. "Just keep it up." They nodded and took more water.

When play resumed, Skyler tore after a Bludger heading for Chris and Juliet. She reached it and instead of hitting it in the opposite direction, she pelted it toward the Harpies' Keeper. The Bludger sent the Keeper running for cover, opening the goals to Juliet, who scored. Juliet and Chris high-fived Skyler before heading on their way back toward the other end of the pitch.

Alex executed a spectacular hit five minutes later, nearly knocking a Harpies Chaser out of the sky. Chris seized the fallen Quaffle and put it through the center hoop, adding ten more points to Puddlemere's score.

It was shortly after this that the Seekers began to dive. Time seemed to stop as the players were torn between watching and to keep playing. The Harpies Seeker was closer than Harry and Skyler was wondering if Harry would make it. Out of the corner of her eye, Skyler spied a Bludger coming at her. She waited until it got closer and smacked it toward the Harpies Seeker. It was all she needed to get thrown off balance, leaving Harry a clear path to the Snitch. Harry's hand closed around the small golden ball and he thrust his fist into the air in victory.

Skyler was blindsided on all ends by Chris, Oliver and Alex. They hugged her as they descended to the ground.

"Spectacular hit!" someone was yelling over all of the cheering from the stands.

"And an amazingly accurate hit from Skyler Reynolds sends Harpies Seeker, O'Neill, flying off course! That hit just won Puddlemere the match! Where did Simon Barker and Oliver Wood find that girl! Puddlemere wins 290:90!" the commentator said to the stadium.

No one on the Puddlemere Quidditch team cared what was said though, as they descended onto the ground in a many armed hug. On the grass the team lay sprawled on top of each other, exhausted but satisfied in the win. The Harpies stalked off the pitch to let the team celebrate.

Later in the locker room, the team changed out of their gear and back into their street clothes. Once they had finished changing, the press was allowed in. The team sat on benches as the media gathered around to write down what the team said, take pictures of the team and recall the favorite moments of the match. Oliver sat in between his favorite new Beater and Chris and waited for the interviewing to begin.

"Mr. Wood, how does it feel to have just won the first game of the season?" a reporter from _Quidditch Weekly_ asked.

"First off, the use of first names is fine. Secondly, it feels damn good," Oliver said, receiving chuckles from the reporters and his teammates. "I don't think I've ever felt this good after a win. We're really going to show the league what we're made of this year."

"Oliver! What do you have to say about the three new additions to the team?"

"Well, I've played with Harry before so it was a great joy to work with him again. He's always come through when we've needed him to and he proved that today," Oliver said diplomatically. "Skyler and Alex are essential assets to the team, as you've seen today. I don't think we would have done nearly as good a job today if we didn't have them with us. Not to mention that spectacular hit at the end of the game." Oliver looked to his right and shared a smile with Skyler.

"Skyler! How was your first professional game?"

"I have to say that it went pretty well. We won and it was most definitely a team effort. I enjoyed playing with the team very much and had a lot of fun out there," Skyler said. "I'm just excited to be playing the game I love."

After a few more questions the interview was over and the team was able to leave the locker room to greet the fans that had stuck around to see them. Oliver walked beside Skyler and put an arm around her.

"Nice answer earlier," he said to her. Skyler looked up at him and smiled.

"It was a team effort," she told him. "It's not my fault they kept wanting to talk about the last few seconds of the game. Mathematically we would have won anyway."

"I know. But they don't care about that. They just care about the exciting moments of the game," Oliver said. "You handled it well."

They didn't get much farther in their discussion as they reached the line of fans waiting down the hall from the locker room. The fans cheered as they saw the team approach. The team endured autographs, photographs, proposals of marriage and other things that made some of the players blush. Once the last of the fan had their say, the team was able to go their separate ways. They said their good-byes and headed on their way.

As Oliver walked toward the Apparation point that would take him to his flat, he looked back and saw his new Beaters walking toward the tube station. Alex put an arm around Skyler's shoulders and she reached up to mess up his hair. Oliver smiled to himself before shaking his head and turning back to his path.

So… there it is… the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. I promise all the overly descriptive stuff will slowly go away. Things/people are still being introduced and they want everyone to know exactly what they look like.

Again, hope you enjoyed. And don't be afraid to review!


	2. Terms of Endearment and Punching People

**Notes:** And we continue on in the lovely adventures of the Puddlemere United team captained by our favorite, Oliver Wood.

**Disclaimer:** I only own what you don't recognize. That and I really need a life.

**Chapter Two:** _Terms of Endearment_ and Punching People in the Face

Oliver Wood was not in a good state when he woke up. He groaned as he felt his head throb and his body ache. He shifted a little in the oddly hard bed he wasn't accustomed to. The pillows were hardly as soft as the ones he was used to lying on. Why was there a change in his bed? Why was he suddenly in something so unusually small? Maybe he should open his eyes.

And he did. Taking in the blinding white of what looked like a hospital room Oliver groaned again as the light hurt his eyes.

"What the…?" he started. He looked around as best he could. His neck wasn't in a mood to be nice to him when he tried moving it.

"Ah, you're awake," he heard an American female voice say. "You've been out quite a while." Oliver recognized the voice of that of his female Beater's, Skyler Reynolds. He turned his head, painfully, to his left and saw her flopped in a chair next to his bed. Oliver took in his appearance, dressed in a hospital gown and covered in a white sheet and a white blanket. Skyler was in blue jeans and a Puddlemere United shirt with her name and number stitched on the left breast.

"What happened?" Oliver managed. He swore he could see a shy and nervous smile cross over Skyler's face as she began to start telling her captain why he was in a hospital bed instead of out in the world.

"Well… see… it's partially my fault… all my fault, actually… we were practicing, as usual… and… um…," Skyler started, chancing a glance at Oliver. He smiled a little at her to implore her to continue. "IaccidentallyhityouwithaBludger."

"I'm sorry… what was that?" Oliver asked.

"I accidentally hit you with a Bludger," Skyler told him. "I didn't mean to. Alex was saying that my accuracy was off and that I should work on it. He told me to try and hit you when you were behind the goal posts and that I had to hit it through one of the goals to get it to you. Well, I did and it… um… hit you."

"At least we know your accuracy is good," Oliver told her with a small laugh. "How long have I been out?"

"Six hours," Skyler said after glancing at the clock in the room, it read 12:30am. Oliver glanced carefully at the clock and then back at Skyler.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked her. Skyler bit her lip before responding.

"They wanted someone to be here when you woke up to tell you what had happened. Since I did it, the team thought that I would be the perfect person to stay. I'm really sorry, Cap'n."

"Don't worry about it. Happens all the time," Oliver said, surprised at the words that were coming out of his mouth. If he had been back in school he would have berated the person who had done this to him. But as he looked at the young woman sitting cross-legged in the chair next to his bed, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her. He looked into her eyes that showed nervousness, guilt and regret all at once.

"I'm serious. Don't worry about it," Oliver told her again. She smiled a little and relaxed.

"Mr. Wood. You're awake," a gruffer male voice said as he entered the room. Oliver recognized the man as Healer William Jones. Oliver had lots of run-ins with Jones, either when he was in St. Mungo's or when a teammate was.

"I am, Jones," Oliver said as he smiled at the Healer. "When can I get out of here and back to practice?" Jones looked to Skyler.

"He always asks this," Jones said as Skyler smiled. "You can be let out later this afternoon after we've done some tests to make sure there isn't any permanent damage."

Skyler smirked at Oliver when Jones mentioned permanent damage. Oliver looked at her and smiled.

"Shut up!" he said. Jones caught the meaning behind the smirk and chuckled.

"Looks like you've met your match, Wood," Jones said. "In more ways than one."

Jones left the two to contemplate his last cryptic remark. When Jones looked back into the room he saw the two laughing and Oliver was playfully hitting Skyler with a pillow. She wasn't making any useful effort to move away from the onslaught.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Oliver was finishing getting the last of his tests done when Skyler walked back into the room. She had gone down to the hospital's cafeteria and gotten something to eat, Oliver's orders. She still wore what she had been wearing when Oliver had first woken up. When she came back into the room, she plopped back down into the chair beside his bed.

"Hospital food sucks," she told him. "Remind me to not get stuck in here." Oliver grinned at her as the Intern Healer gave her a reproachful look. "You almost done?"

"Mr. Wood will be done in a minute and then he will be changing into his street clothes if you want to wait outside," the intern said to her. He was obviously not in a good mood.

"I think I can wait here. I won't see anything new," Skyler said as Oliver fought to keep his laughter in check.

"I thought you weren't a relative or significant other," the intern said, his brow furrowed as he looked at Skyler.

"Oh, no. We're co-workers," Skyler said simply.

"What do you do?" the intern said, appalled at Skyler's nonchalant attitude. Skyler shared a look with Oliver who was filled to the brim with pent up laughter.

"Seriously?" Skyler asked. The intern nodded. "We're strippers." That was all it took for Oliver to lose it. He laughed as Skyler kept a straight face, sweet smile included. The intern looked between Oliver and Skyler, waiting for someone to explain. Once Oliver calmed down, he decided to relieve the intern of his misery.

"What my esteemed colleague is trying to say is that we play Quidditch together," Oliver said. "We're on the Puddlemere United starting roster. This means that we share a locker room and have seen each other change clothes, come out of the shower, et cetera. It's no big deal if she's in here while I'm changing."

The intern shot a glare at Skyler, who, in return, just smiled. Oliver and Skyler watched as the intern left the room, telling Oliver he could change now and muttering about crazy Quidditch players. Oliver sat up and got out of bed as Skyler posed a question.

"Do you think he even knows what Quidditch is?" Oliver couldn't help laughing at the absurdity of the question.

"I hope he does."

"I don't know. He could be one of those bookworm kids. You know, a Ravenclaw… I think," Skyler said. Oliver grinned. He, Chris and Harry had taken it upon themselves to riddle Skyler and her twin, Alex, with all sorts of stories from their days at Hogwarts. They told of Quidditch games, classes, teachers and other houses. Skyler was always up for a story, while Alex would pay attention once in a while.

"Yeah, Ravenclaw would be it," Oliver said. He saw a proud smile adorn Skyler's face and grinned in spite of himself. "You should ask him on the way out."

"Nah, I think I've scarred him enough today," Skyler said as Oliver slipped on and buttoned a pair of jeans. "You, however, have yet to be scarred."

"I have plenty of scars," Oliver said.

"Not from me," Skyler protested.

"Who was the one who got me in here in the first place?" Oliver asked, gesturing around the room as he grabbed his t-shirt.

"Mental scars, love," Skyler told him, with a dismissive wave. Oliver chuckled as he pulled his shirt over his head.

"You've been in England too long. You're already using our terms of endearment," he told her, grabbing his jacket and moving toward the door. Skyler stood up to follow him.

"Good movie," Skyler said. "I cried." Oliver looked at her as he opened the door and let her pass through before he followed.

"What movie?" Oliver asked.

"You know what a movie is, right?" Skyler asked. Oliver nodded. "There's a movie called _Terms of Endearment_. It's pretty sad and I cried."

"I can't believe that."

"That there's a movie called that?"

"No, that you cried." Skyler stopped as they were leaving the ward.

"Hey there, Mr. Captain, I have feelings, too, you know," she told him, half-heartedly. Oliver put his hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes.

"No you don't," he said before grinning and continuing on his way out of the hospital. Skyler stood in indignation for a moment before jogging to catch up with him. Oliver slung an arm around her shoulders as she wrapped one around his waist as they exited the ward and the hospital.

"I do to have feelings."

Two weeks later the Puddlemere United Quidditch team was in the middle of the toughest match of the season. The Falmouth Falcons were in town and were prepared to do anything to win. They had already shown their drive in their first matches of the season and weren't letting up when it came to Puddlemere.

The Puddlemere team was already tired, banged up and bruised when Oliver called a time out only two hours into the game. Oliver had nearly had a heart attack when he saw the largest player on the Falmouth team, the Beater Steven Cromwell, slam into Skyler. She had nearly been thrown from her broom but managed to stay on, although she was quite unsteady. Oliver hurried over to her when she landed on the ground next to her teammates. Alex was propping her up a little as she leaned against his shoulder.

"Do you need me to send in a reserve?" Oliver asked her when he took her by the shoulders and looked into her slightly dazed eyes. She shook her head and closed her eyes.

"Just get me some water," she told him. Soon she was armed with a large bottle of water and was chugging it down. She finished, opened her eyes and seemed regenerated. "Let's go kick some Falcon ass," she said, but could not keep a weary quality out of her voice.

"Anytime you need to stop, you let me know," Oliver said. "Just holler, or hit me with a Bludger." Skyler smiled and received one from her captain in return.

"I'll be fine," she told him. Oliver allowed his players a few more minutes on the ground. He watched as Alex hugged his sister and whispered words of encouragement to her. Chris, in a moment of genuine niceness for a Slytherin, hugged Skyler and told her she was doing wonderfully well for her first time against the Falcons. After getting a general consensus from the team, Oliver signaled to the referee that their team was ready to go back in the air.

"And they're back! Puddlemere still leads the Falcons 160:110. How long can Wood's team hold out against the bigger and physical Falcon team? We already saw Skyler Reynolds get nearly knocked off her broom mid-air, can she and the rest of the team last? The Quaffle is back out! Warrington comes up with it! Warrington, McCarthy, Schmor, McCarthy, Schmor, Warrington scores! 170:110, Puddlemere!" the commentator announced to the stadium.

Oliver watched from his place at the goals as Skyler and Alex fought to keep control of the Bludgers. Cromwell and his partner, James Hart, were trying to intimidate the smaller pair. _And Alex isn't that small of a guy_, Oliver thought. Hart and Cromwell were flying at death-defying speeds inches away from the Puddlemere Beaters. How much more could they handle?

A loud crunch brought Oliver's attention back to his Beaters after he made a spectacular save, rebounding to Chris. Oliver watched as Steven Cromwell fell through the air, his broom forgotten.

"Skyler Reynolds has just unseated Cromwell from his broom! I have never seen anything like it before! That man must be three times her size and she just sent him flying off his broom! And Warrington scores on the distracted Falcon Keeper, Phelps!" Oliver could hear the commentator saying. "This is one of the most eventful games I have ever witnessed!"

Oliver chanced a look to his female Beater. Sure enough, Skyler was looking at Cromwell on the ground with a look of utmost disgust and superiority. Oliver grinned largely at his Beater. Skyler caught his eye, smiled and winked before she flew off to the opposite side of the pitch, chasing a Bludger.

"The Seekers are diving! Potter's ahead of Simpson, but only by just!" Oliver watched as the Seekers dove in the center of the pitch. He heard two more crunches and watched as his two Beaters and two Falcon Chasers were sent flying from their brooms ten feet from the ground, as Harry caught the Snitch. Oliver watched as Skyler and Alex hit the ground hard. The Falcon players hit the ground harder. Once they were all down on the ground, each player jumped up and began accosting one another. Oliver hurried to the crowd of fallen Quidditch players on the ground. He landed in between the two teams and tried to separate the fighting. Finally the sides were separating as each team's players gathered around each other, each side yelling at the other.

"You keep your little whore out of the sky!" Hart yelled at the team, pointing to Skyler. "She has no right to be up there."

"You're mad because she played a better game than you?" Warrington asked of his old housemate. "C'mon James, you know fair's fair."

"Since when did you play fair, Warrington?" Hart countered. "You were the first to agree with Flint on any cheating play."

"I valued my position on the team, Hart," Warrington said in a tone that would send anyone without a backbone running. Apparently it didn't work on the Falcon Beater.

"Fine, you won, fair and square. You and your little Mudblood whore," Hart spat.

Suddenly he was on the ground, spitting up blood from his mouth and nose. Oliver stood over him, sporting bloody knuckles.

"Get off the field and go to your locker room. We're done here," he said in a deadly quiet voice that would make any Slytherin proud.

In the Puddlemere locker room an hour after the fight on the field, Oliver stepped out of the showers, having soaked in the heat of the water for half an hour. He dried his hair with one towel as another was wrapped around his waist.

"That was a stupid thing you did back there," he heard a voice say as the towel covered his head. He dropped his hair-drying towel on the bench in front of his locker and faced the voice. Skyler was sitting on the bench opposite his, back in her street clothes with a few additions. She had some medical tape on her face, holding a cut that didn't require stitches, in place as it healed. He could see the white of the gauze covering a large bruise that was being mended with a special bruise potion. The gauze, he knew, was covering a very large bruise that extended from her ribs, across her back, up over her shoulder and stopped halfway up the right side of her neck. A small section of the gauze peeked out of the collar of her t-shirt. The same shirt she had worn to the hospital two weeks ago.

"You heard what he said," Oliver told her quietly, still a little peeved at the jerk from Falmouth.

"That doesn't mean you have to go around breaking your hand on his face," she told him, eyeing the hand that he refused to get mended.

"He deserved it," Oliver argued as he opened his locker, turning away from Skyler, unable to look at her.

"But did you?" she asked. Oliver stopped. He wasn't expecting that. He turned from his locker to look at her.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Do you deserve to have your hand broken? And I know it's broken, don't deny it," she said when he opened his mouth to protest. "Hart will get what's coming to him, whether you hand it to him or not. You, however, don't need to have another injury or scar."

"I was defending you," he said softly, turning back to pull clothes out of his locker.

"I know that," Skyler said, matching the softness of his voice. "But, hey, look at me. I took care of Cromwell just fine." Oliver smiled as he pulled on a pair of jeans.

"Yeah, you did," he said. "I have no idea how you did that." Oliver was shaking his head as he pulled on a t-shirt.

"Neither do I," Skyler admitted. She watched as Oliver adjusted his t-shirt and sat down on the bench, facing her. "Do you want me to fix your hand?"

"You don't mind?"

"Not at all." Skyler took Oliver's broken hand gently in hers and took out her wand. "Since Mom and Dad are Muggles, Alex and I learned how to do first-aid charms on ourselves for when we practiced over the summer. Could you imagine us telling Muggle doctors that we got hit by a makeshift Bludger when we were flying on broomsticks, practicing Quidditch?" Oliver smiled at the story. When he looked up Skyler was smiling. "Done."

Oliver flexed his hand and found that the hand moved freely as it did before it was broken. He noticed a few new scars though. When he pointed them out to Skyler she shrugged.

"I figured you'd need a couple more battle wounds. They're always a good conversation starter. I wanted to be in the story. You can tell them you were defending my honor," she told him.

"I was," he said.

"I know," Skyler paused. "Look, I need to go. Alex is probably wondering where I am and what I'm doing. He might even be thinking that you're taking advantage of me in the empty locker room." Oliver laughed.

"I would never - "

"I know," Skyler stopped him. "But Alex likes to play the older brother, even though I'm older by two minutes. Don't worry about him, I'll handle it." Skyler stood up and started to go to the door of the locker room. She stopped and rethought her path. She walked back to Oliver and placed a hand on his cheek. Oliver's eyes widened as she placed a kiss on the opposite cheek. She pulled away and straightened up.

"Thanks, Cap'n," she said before heading to the exit again.

"What are you going to say if Alex asks you if I took advantage of you in the locker room?" Oliver asked, stopping Skyler in her path. She turned and smiled at him.

"I'll tell him it was me who was the one taking advantage of you." Oliver smiled a little before he watched as Skyler left the locker room. It was going to be an interesting second half of the season.

The Puddlemere team was gathered in the Leaky Cauldron waiting for the Evening Prophet to come out. The team had just finished up a practice two days after the exciting Falcons game. The Evening Prophet would be announcing the selections for the team to represent England in the quest for the World Cup.

Oliver had told his team not to worry about getting selected. This didn't mean that they were bad players; it just was who the Department of Magical Games and Sports thought were the best players in the League.

Tom, the bartender, came over to the table the team was sitting at and handed Oliver the evening paper. Oliver took it with thanks and opened the paper to the sports section.

"The England National team is as follows. Chasers Christopher Warrington (Puddlemere United, 21), Andrew Brown (Appleby Arrows, 23) and Sean Beymer (Montrose Magpies, 20) will be joined by Beaters Skyler Reynolds (Puddlemere United, 18) and James Hart (Falmouth Falcons, 23). The team and Seeker Harry Potter (Puddlemere United, 19) will be captained by Keeper Oliver Wood (Puddlemere United, 22). Wood must be proud to have himself and three other Puddlemere players represent the English team," Oliver read before putting down the paper. "I am proud guys, of all of you." The team nodded, knowing he truly meant those words.

"Are you alright?" Skyler asked Oliver, putting a hand on his shoulder. He faced her as the rest of the team went to collect congratulatory drinks from Tom.

"I'm fine," he responded. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, Hart's going to be on the team," Skyler reminded him. "He is the guy whose face you threw your fist into."

"I know," Oliver said with a sigh. "We'll be fine. We'll be fine."

**And… **

We're done with another chapter. That's some crazy stuff going down. It'll be fun to see how Oliver handles Hart on his national team. I think he's more worried about how Hart and Skyler will get along and how they'll work together. But Hart's a professional. They'll be fine… we hope.

Thanks for reading! Review if you feel the need!

Thanks to those have reviewed already! You guys kick ass!


	3. Near Death Experiences and Confessions

**Notes: **The next chapter in the story. I really don't know how long this is going to go on. It all depends on how long the characters want to stick around. We'll see.

**Disclaimer:** If you think that I own anything that would make me money by now, you're seriously disturbed.

**Chapter Three: **Near Death Experiences and Confessions

Oliver was in shock. What was going on? Puddlemere was losing a game, for the first time in the season. His team was always in good shape. Why was it that now they were falling apart? This game would determine who would continue on to the semi-finals in the journey for the League Cup. What was going on?

"The Reynolds twins seem to be having a hard time keeping control over those Bludgers!" the commentator told the fans in the stands. "It seems that the Kenmare Kestrels are giving Puddlemere a run for their money. The Kenmare team wasn't supposed to be this good coming into the match against the undefeated Puddlemere team. But if the score of 160:100 is any indication of how hard they've trained, Captain Johnson must be inexplicably proud."

Oliver couldn't believe the words coming out of the commentator's mouth. He still held out hope that the Snitch would show up soon and Harry would be able to catch it. There would be no way that his Seeker would fail him now. Oliver watched as his female Beater and a male Chaser from Kenmare collided with a sickening crunch. Skyler had been hit from behind as she tried to deflect a Bludger from going after one of Puddlemere's Chasers. Now she was falling, and falling fast. The Chaser from Kenmare was trailing her in the air, without his broom. Oliver hollered at Chris Warrington to move from his Chaser position to cover the goals. Once Chris was halfway to the posts, Oliver shot off toward the falling Beater.

Skyler Reynolds couldn't believe it. She was falling from what must have been sixty feet. She was preparing herself for the hard hit on the ground when she was hit from behind again and began traveling in a different direction. She was falling sideways, with something wrapped around her. _How do you fall sideways?_ When she opened her eyes she saw her captain flying with her in his arms. He slowed them down and they gently toppled to the ground, landing on the cool grass. Oliver called a time out and the rest of the team joined them. Soon Oliver was being held by a very grateful Skyler. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. Oliver returned the embrace and both held onto each other tightly. The team found their captain and one of their Beaters, kneeling on the grass and just holding onto each other.

"You were so close to the ground," Oliver whispered to Skyler. "So close."

"As the Puddlemere team takes a time out after that death-defying save, let's take a look at it one more time," the commentator said as the scene was replayed on the large screen in the middle of the stands. Skyler and Oliver separated and watched the event they had just been through, unfold before their eyes. Skyler gasped and covered her mouth with her hands when she saw just how far she had been off the ground when she started to fall and how little she had to go before she hit the ground when Oliver caught her. The hem of her robes had just brushed the ground when Oliver scooped her out of the air.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked Skyler, breaking her out of her shock at the event still being replayed for the fans.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she told him, still obviously shaken… and shaking.

"Ready to go back up?" he asked. Skyler looked around for something.

"My broom? And my bat?" she asked, looking for them. Alex walked up to her and handed her both.

"Here," he said in a quiet voice. "I got them for you."

"Thanks," she said before giving her brother a very tight hug. Alex hugged her back. They separated, turned to their captain and nodded. Oliver signaled to the other members of the team and they took off into the air.

"They're back! Puddlemere must be a little shaken after that fall and save. Let's see how it affects the game."

Oliver, who should have been worried after such a fall, was in the best of moods. The near death experience seemed to have rejuvenated the team. They were on fire now. Chris, Lucinda and Juliet scored four more goals in the span of two minutes, bring the score to 160:140, Kenmare. Oliver blocked every shot since the time out and the Beaters were flying around like nothing had happened. They were faster than Oliver had ever seen them.

"The Snitch has been spotted!"

The players turned their attention to the Seekers streaking straight up to the sky, chasing the elusive Snitch. Alex and Skyler both hit Bludgers directly toward the Kenmare Seeker. They knocked him off course and left the path open for Harry to grab the Snitch.

"Puddlemere has come from behind to win the game! Seeker Harry Potter catches the Snitch!"

The team cheered once more as they entered the locker room. With all the hype surrounding the events in the game, they decided to allow the media in before they changed out of their Quidditch uniforms. The players had been divested of their outer robes and were left in their sweater, pants, boots, guards and gloves. The team sat on the benches in the locker room and waited for the media to come in.

The media entered the room in an onslaught. There were at least twice as many people in the room than after their first game.

"The team has been gracious enough to allow you in early. I hope you would show them the same respect and keep your questions to a minimum and to a certain degree of respect," Simon Baker, the team manager said. "The questioning may begin."

The team laughed off Simon's protectiveness of them and awaited the questions.

"Oliver! What a spectacular catch! How did it feel to watch a teammate fall like that?" the reporter from _Quidditch Weekly_ asked.

"I don't think I've been more worried in my life," Oliver said truthfully. "I've never seen anyone take that kind of a fall. Luckily we were able to think fast and work quickly. I daresay that I don't want to think about what would have happened if she had hit the ground."

"And how do you feel, Skyler?" the reporter asked.

"Lucky," she said simply. The team smiled at one another and waited for another question.

"That's all?" a reporter asked.

"I'm very grateful that Oliver was there to catch me. I can't express that enough. I don't know how he got over to me so fast from the goals," Skyler said. "That's why I feel so lucky."

After a few more questions, the team was left to change back into their street clothes. Oliver was the last one to change; making sure that Skyler was okay and was changing fine.

"Are you okay?" he asked her again. She looked up from where she was tying her shoes and looked at his worried face.

"I'm fine," she told him. "Get dressed. We're going to the Leaky Cauldron. Tom's finished renovating it. It's supposed to be more… hip."

"Is that right?" Oliver asked with a laugh.

"Yeah," Skyler said, smiling. "Hurry up so we can go." Skyler waited as Oliver changed, watching him so she made sure he didn't dawdle. At least that's what she told him when he asked her why she was watching.

The team was gathered around a table in the brightly lit Leaky Cauldron, a far cry from the gloomy place it had been. The crowd in the pub was merry and a lot younger than the previous clientele. The team was constantly being bought more rounds of various drinks.

Soon the only two members of the team left in the pub were the fallen Beater and her savior. Oliver and Skyler sat at the nearly empty table around a stack of Butterbeer bottles, shot glasses and tumblers. Contrary to their surroundings, the two team members left were the only ones that hadn't gotten drunk. Both were still sober, but both were very tired. They were resting their heads on their arms that rested on the table.

"I've been thinking," Oliver started.

"And we all know how dangerous that is," Skyler quipped, smiling. Oliver made a face at her then smiled with her.

"Ha ha. Do you remember the Falcons game?" Oliver asked.

"How could I forget?"

"Right. Anyway, after the game, in the locker room," he started, tripping over his words. Skyler looked at him quizzically. "When you kissed me, what did you mean by it?"

"I kissed you?" Skyler asked, racking her memory. "Oh! That! I'd forgotten about that." Skyler missed the fallen look on Oliver's face as she picked her head up off the table. "That was nothing."

"Okay," Oliver said, wondering why he was so crestfallen and wondering what had made him ask the question in the first place. "I was just wondering."

On the way up the stairs to Alex and Skyler's flat, an awkward silence passed between Oliver and his female Beater. They didn't talk all the way to Skyler's building and hadn't spoken a word since they entered, except for Skyler's quiet word of thanks to Oliver when he held the door open for her. They reached the door of the flat and stood in awkward silence.

"Where'd Alex go tonight?" Oliver asked, trying to start some sort of conversation.

"He went over to Chris'. He's crashing there tonight. Something about picking up girls or something," Skyler said. "I think it was Chris' idea."

"Sounds like something Warrington would do," Oliver agreed. "The first England meeting is tomorrow night at the pitch."

"Right," Skyler said. "I remember now. Thanks."

"No problem," Oliver said. He sighed and looked at Skyler. "I should be going." Skyler nodded and watched Oliver turn back toward the stairs.

"I lied," she blurted out. Oliver turned back to look at her.

"In the pub," she explained. "I lied. I hadn't forgotten." Oliver was looking at her with an expression on his face that she couldn't read. Skyler sighed to herself and opened the door to her flat. She walked in, took one last look at Oliver and closed the door.

Oliver stared at her door for what seemed like hours. He stood still and just stared. What the hell did she mean by that? What was he supposed to do with that kind of an answer? He snapped out of it a few moments later and turned back to the stairs, walking down them slowly.

The next evening, the England team met at the Puddlemere United pitch. Oliver watched the mix of player gather and group together. Skyler, Chris and Harry stood together and watched as Andrew Brown of the Appleby Arrows and Sean Beymer of the Montrose Magpies approached them. The two outsiders introduced themselves to the Puddlemere representatives. Skyler, Chris and Harry complied by shaking their hands and following in the introductions.

"That game against Kenmare was insane," Andrew said to the group. "You should have heard the gasp in the stands when Wood caught you. No one was expecting that."

"_I_ wasn't even expecting that," Skyler said to the Chaser. "I'm just glad he caught me."

"Aren't we all?" Chris said. Harry nodded and the Puddlemere players looked at the ground.

"Still, that was a spectacular catch," Andrew said.

"Can we not talk about it anymore? It happened, it's done," Skyler said. The Chasers, Chris and Harry were taken aback. "Sorry, it's just I don't like reliving near death experiences." Skyler chanced a look at her captain and saw that he was watching them, and possibly listening. She was turned back to the group when Chris put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. Oliver turned his attention away from the group and tensed his jaw.

"Alright, everyone over here," he said. The group gathered around Oliver and awaited instructions. "I'm sure everyone knows each other by now. If you don't, you can do introductions later. We're here to practice. We need to be in top form when we start playing for the Cup. All personal grudges need to be put aside. You can hate each other off the pitch. Leave everything at the door to the locker room. We're here to work."

Skyler saw Oliver look pointedly between herself and James Hart, her fellow Beater.

"Get in the air. A lap around the pitch and then we'll start," he ordered before flying into the air, his team following.

After about an hour of practice, Oliver landed on the ground, sincerely surprised at how well the team worked together. Skyler and Hart worked quite well together, despite their differences at the Falmouth game earlier in the season. They were nearly as seamless as Skyler and Alex. There were some miscommunications but they were laughed off and taken in stride. Oliver was surprised to hear the two Beaters joking and laughing as they practiced. This didn't alleviate Oliver's worries about having Hart on the team. He was a good Beater, there was no denying that. But there was something about him that Oliver wasn't able to overlook.

The two Beaters landed next to Oliver and continued to joke about the dynamics of being a Beater. Chris, Andrew, Sean and Harry landed next and helped the Beaters put the equipment away.

"Hey!" Skyler yelled at Oliver. "Just because you're the captain doesn't mean that you get out of putting stuff away." Oliver smiled and joined the team in getting everything back in the equipment box. When the team walked back to the locker room in good spirits and with Oliver and Hart carrying the equipment box between them, Oliver's worries seemed to disappear. He looked over at the Beater he had punched in the face a few weeks ago and laughed at a joke he had made.

Maybe things wouldn't be as bad as they seemed.

As Chris, Harry and Skyler changed they discussed the practice they had just endured.

"What'd you make of the little speech before practice?" Chris asked with raised eyebrows.

"Reminded me of when we were in school," Harry said. "Some of the old Oliver came back."

"Can you blame him?" Chris asked. "He finds out that not only does the guy he punched make it onto the National team, he also has to captain him. If I were Oliver, I'd do the same thing."

"Kind of makes you respect him though," Harry said. "I'd've punched him again."

Chris and Harry smirked and Skyler shook her head at them.

"It's a good thing you two are getting along now, eh, Sky?" Chris said.

"Yeah," Skyler said. "I'd hate it if we were fighting all the time. We'd never get anything done."

"How did all this come about?" Harry asked. "How'd you start getting along?" Skyler shifted nervously before answering.

"I asked him to join me for lunch today," Skyler admitted. "Since we're going to be on the same team I wanted to be able to get along with him, especially since he's going to be my other half out on the pitch. I swallowed my pride and asked him to join me for food so we could get to know one another outside of the game. Needless to say, it worked. We're not the best of friends, but we're getting along. Oliver doesn't need the added stress of two Beaters who are at each other's throats."

Chris and Harry shared a look before turning back to Skyler.

"Good for you, Sky," Chris said. "You'd make a wonderful Hufflepuff."

"Shut up!" was what Chris heard over Harry's laughter as he dodged the boot thrown at him.

"Does Oliver know?" Harry asked once he had stopped laughing.

"Thanks," Skyler told Chris when he returned her shoe. "No, he doesn't."

"I don't know if that's going to go over well with Cap'n," Chris said. "He might get a little jealous."

"He doesn't have to know. We're getting along and that's all that matters," Skyler said. "I have no idea why he'd be jealous anyway."

"Suit yourself," Chris said. "But when Cap'n finds out, I don't want to be around. On second thought, I'd _love_ to see that conversation."

Harry shook his head and ushered the finished changing Chris out of the locker room.

"If you don't get a move on, that girl you're dating will think you're cheating on her," Harry told him as he pushed him out of the locker room. Skyler gave Harry a thankful look and got a grin in return.

"But I already am," Chris could be heard saying.

"I know, but we don't need her to find out."

"Good point."

Skyler half-watched and half-listened to Harry and Chris leave the locker room. She didn't notice when Oliver sat down next to her, freshly showered and changed.

"You and Hart had lunch?" he asked her. She nearly jumped out of her skin and turned around to face him, not able to look him in the eye.

"Yeah, we did," she explained. "For the sake of the team and your sanity."

"I won't throw a conniption as Chris alluded to," Oliver said. "Thanks for doing that. Merlin knows I wouldn't have been able to."

"Which is why you weren't invited," Skyler said with a smile, glad to still be in the captain's good graces.

"Good thing too," Oliver agreed.

"But you two seem to be getting along well," Skyler observed. "You haven't fought or punched each other yet. That's good progress."

"Thanks. You ready for the Ballycastle game?" Oliver asked. Skyler nodded.

"Mmmhmm. I should be," she said. "You ready?"

"Always."

The Ballycastle game happened on a surprisingly cold day. Oliver told his team to prepare for the cold by wearing layers. The team, dressed to Oliver's orders, stepped foot onto the pitch ready for the cold. Ballycastle looked calm and collected as they faced the Puddlemere team.

"We're here on a chilly day, witches and wizards! Puddlemere United is here to take on the Ballycastle Bats! As you all know if you've been following the League, Puddlemere's been having quite a season. They've had an eventful one. Skyler Reynolds, the team's female Beater was nearly killed in a fall when Captain and Keeper Oliver Wood shot away from his post at the goals to catch her. The England National team is represented by four members of the Puddlemere team, Wood, Reynolds, Chris Warrington and Harry Potter," the commentator said to the stands as the teams shook hands all around and waited for the match to start. The referee kicked open the equipment box and the balls shot out. He picked up the Quaffle and signaled for the teams to get in the air. Once everyone was in the air, the referee tossed the Quaffle to the waiting players.

"And Warrington comes up with the Quaffle!"

The teams played for about three hours before the Ballycastle captain called for a time out. The teams shot to the ground and they huddled together. Oliver and his team stood very close together in order to stay warm. They were brought hot cocoa and sipped it quickly to warm up their freezing bodies.

"Is it just me, or is it getting colder by the minute?" Chris Warrington asked the team. Several players shook their heads.

"It's not just you," Skyler said, shivering to no end. Oliver noticed and walked over to her. He took her hands in his and rubbed them to warm them. The referee walked over and found Oliver tending to his Beater.

"You ready?" he asked. Oliver looked to Skyler and she nodded.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah," Oliver said, turning to the referee and dropping Skyler's hands. "We're ready." The referee nodded to him and took off. The teams were in the air once more.

The game continued in the cold, with Puddlemere leading but only by just.

"And Warrington puts another goal past the Keeper. Puddlemere leads 130 to 100."

Finally twenty minutes later Harry dove for the Snitch and caught it with the Ballycastle Seeker too far behind to even move. The teams hit the ground and jogged into the locker room with equipment managers throwing cloaks over them.

The Puddlemere team gathered in the locker room and Skyler headed to the showers, with her uniform still on, but her outer robes discarded. She turned on the water and ducked under it, letting the spray hit her and warm her up. She stayed under the water and didn't care when Simon came to the shower.

"I'm going to need your uniform soon," Simon told her. She opened her eyes and looked at him. She stepped out from under the spray and took off her sweater, throwing it to him. Simon could see where only part of the massive bruise that she had received from the Falcons game remained. She took off her pants and threw those to Simon as well, leaving her in her underwear.

"Can you bring me a towel?" she asked him. Simon nodded and left with her wet clothes leaving a trail of water behind him. He walked into the main room of the locker room where the rest of the team was changing and getting towels out to go into the shower. Chris looked at Simon and the wet clothes he was holding.

"Did she just strip in the shower?" Chris asked Simon incredulously. Simon shrugged.

"I told her I needed her uniform soon and she just gave it to me," Simon said.

"Why wasn't I there for it?" Chris asked. Alex elbowed Chris in the side. "Ow!"

"That's my sister you're talking about!"

"I know, mate. I was just kidding," Chris said. Oliver chuckled at the two quarrelling players. He shook his head as he walked, clad only in a towel, to the showers.

"Oliver! Are you going to the showers?" Simon asked. Oliver nodded. "Can you bring Skyler a towel?" Simon tossed Oliver a large towel once he had nodded again. Oliver took the towel into the showers and passed by the women's shower where the water was running.

"Sky!" Oliver yelled over the spray.

"Yeah, Cap'n?" was the reply he heard. He smiled in spite of himself.

"I've got a towel for you," he said.

"You can bring it in," she said. "I'm not naked." Oliver chuckled as he walked into the shower. He saw Skyler standing under the spray just in her underwear, completely soaked through. Her auburn hair was dark and very straight as it hung down her back, different from when it was pulled up and back during the games. Skyler turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She allowed Oliver to wrap her in the large towel before she wrung out her hair into the shower drain.

"Feel better?" Oliver asked. Skyler smiled.

"Much," she said. "Thanks." Oliver smiled and they walked out of the shower. Oliver walked into the men's shower as Skyler walked in the opposite direction toward the locker room. Oliver turned on the shower spray before putting his towel on the rack just outside of the shower. He walked under the spray and felt the warm water loosen sore and tight muscles. He could hear Chris giving Skyler a hard time about going in the shower with her uniform on and not "stripping" for him. He laughed as he heard a thump and an "Ow!" from Chris.

"Look, just because you prefer the captain doesn't mean that you need to go beating me up," Chris could be heard saying from the shower Oliver was in. Oliver ducked his head out from under the spray to hear more of the conversation.

"I don't know what you're going on about, Warrington," he heard Skyler say.

Chris responded with, "Last names now? That's not nice, Sky. Why are you blushing? Thinking about him in the shower?"

"Stop it," she said before noisily opening her locker. Oliver tuned out the rest of the conversation and concentrated on finishing up his shower.

When Oliver stepped out of the shower, he stepped into a quieter locker room. He barely heard Chris and Harry's voices leaving the locker room. It seemed that Alex was just in front of them on the way out. He stepped into the row of lockers and saw Skyler sitting on the bench across from his locker, reading a book. This was a common occurrence and did not faze Oliver in the slightest. Oliver opened his locker and took out his clothes.

"How much did you hear?" he heard Skyler ask. He turned around and looked at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"How much of the conversation did you hear?" she asked again. "I know you heard part of it. You wouldn't look at me when you came out of the shower."

"I stopped listening when you said 'Stop it.'" Oliver admitted. Skyler laughed a little and stood up.

"That's all I needed to hear," she told him before walking to the locker room door.

"Hold on!" Oliver stopped her. "What the bloody hell was all that about?" Skyler looked at him, speechless. "I'm tired of skirting around the issue. Something is obviously going on and I want to know how you feel," he said gesturing between the two of them.

"What do you want me to say?" Skyler asked. "That I'm falling for you? That I don't know what to do without you? I don't know what you want me to say."

"Just tell me the truth."

"How do you feel?" Skyler asked. It was an odd sight, to say the least. A fully dressed young woman was standing at the entrance to the locker room of a professional Quidditch team across the room from her scantily clad team captain, still slightly wet from the shower he just took. If Skyler were not involved in the situation she would have thought it was a scene from a Muggle teen movie.

"I care about you a lot. I don't think I could ever feel anything bad toward you," Oliver said, letting his feelings out. "I don't know what I'm really feeling but I know that I want to be with you. I know that I would love to be with you. I haven't really felt this way about anyone in a long time."

Skyler stood in silence for a moment before breaking into a grin.

"Really?" she asked, looking up at Oliver.

"Really."

"Skyler!" Oliver and Skyler turned toward the doors of the locker room, having heard Alex yell from outside. They heard footsteps coming down the hall outside of the locker room. The locker room door burst open and in stepped Alex followed by Chris.

"Whoa," Alex said. "Did we interrupt something?" he asked, looked between Oliver, still in only a towel, and Skyler standing on the opposite of the room, facing each other.

"No," Oliver said, looking at Skyler. Alex looked between his captain and his sister again.

"You sure?" he asked Skyler.

"Yeah, we're sure," she responded, looking at Oliver with an appraising look.

"Alright then," Alex said. "Let's go, we've been waiting for a while, Sky." Skyler nodded and began to follow her twin out of the room.

"I never got my answer," Oliver said to Skyler as she walked to the door. She turned and gave him an incredulous look, as if to say "Do you know what you're doing right now?"

"I got mine," she told him before turning and following her brother out of the locker room.

"What was _that_ about?" Chris asked once the Reynolds twins had left the room and were out of ear shot in the hallway.

"Nothing," Oliver said, finally getting the chance to change into the jeans and shirt he had pulled from his locker.

"_That_ wasn't 'nothing'," Chris told Oliver. "That was something." Oliver took the opportunity to stall by putting on his jeans and pulling the shirt over his head.

"That is our business," Oliver said, putting on his "Captain" face. Chris just laughed at him.

"That's bullshit," Chris told him, still laughing. "From the looks of it, someone had just confessed something and was waiting for the other person to respond, or confess something equally shocking."

"I hate you," Oliver said, pulling on his shoes and picking up his towel to dry his hair. Chris smiled.

"Love you too, mate," Chris said. "Who said what?"

"I told her," Oliver said. Chris stared at him for a while. "Anytime, Chris."

"Wow," Chris finally responded. "I don't know what to say. What did she say?"

"I just finished telling her and she asked 'Really?' That's when you guys busted in," Oliver told him.

"Hmm. Alex is probably interrogating her right now. I better leave them at it for a while," Chris said. "Too bad you didn't get your answer. Do you think she'll ever tell you?"

"She was about to."

"Bad luck, mate."

"No thanks to you."

"I know, I know," Chris conceded. "You coming to dinner with us?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Oliver said, throwing his towel into the laundry basket at the end of the row of lockers. "Especially after what just happened. I'm just going to go home and hang out there, let things mull over."

"Alright, mate," Chris said. "See you around." Chris got up and opened the door leading into the hall, allowing the "About time!" from Alex to leak through into the locker room.

Oliver was home for a couple of hours before he heard a knock on the door of his flat. He looked up at the door in confusion before standing up and walking over to the door. Looking down at his appearance, he guessed he was dressed enough to open the door. He had on a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and a small old Gryffindor Quidditch t-shirt on with a couple small holes around the collar. He opened the door and was surprised to see Skyler standing on the other side.

"Hi," she started, playing with her hands in front of her.

"Hullo," he said.

"You never got your answer," she told him.

"Are you going to tell me?" he asked, holding onto the door.

"Yes," she said before pausing. "I feel everything that you do. I feel the same way. I've talked to Alex and he said that he knew that I did, but I didn't know. He said that I knew deep down - "

And she was cut off. Oliver had put a hand to the back of her neck and tilted her head up towards him. He brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her.

Sweet Merlin…

**And…**

Another one out of the way! It took a while but we finally got there. It's about damn time with those two skirting around each other. There were several times that they could have finally kissed but it didn't seem right for them.

Thanks for reading! And remember… reviewing is awesome!


	4. Overprotective Brothers and Celebrations

**Notes:** And we move into the fourth installment.

**Disclaimer:** Seriously, if you're reading this instead of the story, you're seriously disturbed.

**Chapter Four:** Overprotective Brothers and Celebrating

Skyler and Oliver stood in the doorway to his flat, wrapped up in each other for a few minutes. It wasn't until a middle-aged couple passed by the door that they realized they were, technically, still in public.

"Why don't you kiss me like that anymore?" the woman of the couple asked her husband as they passed by. Oliver and Skyler separated and watched the couple as they passed.

"I still kiss you like that," the husband was heard saying as they rounded the corner. "You just don't pay attention."

Skyler laughed a little before turning back to Oliver, looking up at him with a dazed sort of smile on her face.

"What made you come here?" Oliver asked with a smile on his face that wouldn't go away.

"Believe it or not, but my overprotective brother and Warrington," Skyler told him. "They spent all of dinner complaining that I wouldn't go talk to you. They told me to suck it up and tell you. After all, you had told me. I should have repaid the favor."

"Have to say, I'm glad you did," Oliver told her. She smiled and reached up to kiss him again. "Do you want to come in?" he asked after they separated. Skyler began to look uncomfortable.

"I don't know," she began.

"Not like that!" Oliver said, catching on to her concerns. "Trust me; I'd love to do that. But not right now, when we're both ready." Skyler smiled and put her hand in his.

"Alright, then," she said and allowed herself to be led into the flat.

It was three in the morning when Skyler entered the flat she shared with her brother. Alex was obviously still up, the TV was on and he was on the couch watching a movie. Chris was spread out on the loveseat, his attention bound by the movie they were watching. Alex looked up when Skyler entered the flat.

"Morning," he said to her.

"Morning," she responded before going into the kitchen. Alex watched as his sister took down a glass from a cupboard, opened the refrigerator and took out a jug of orange juice. She poured herself some and put the jug back into the fridge. She brought the glass with her when she came into the living room and sat down next to her brother on the couch.

"So… how'd it go?" Alex asked, nonchalantly. Chris pulled his attention away from the TV to look at Skyler.

"I'm not telling," she told them. She took a sip of orange juice to mask a grin that was waiting to burst forth.

"When's the wedding?" Alex asked.

"There will be no wedding!" Skyler said, as Chris paused the movie.

"He denied you?" Alex asked, completely confused. "I'm going to kill him!" Alex made a move to stand up and leave the flat when Skyler pulled his arm to make him sit back down.

"He didn't 'deny' me, as you so eloquently put," Skyler told him. Alex sat back down with a grin. Chris was also grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"So something _did_ happen."

"He snogged you, didn't he?" Chris said. Skyler turned to look at the TV screen.

"What movie are you guys watching?" she asked. Alex and Chris looked at each other.

"Oh, no you don't!" Chris said. "We want answers."

"Alright! Fine," Skyler surrendered. "We kissed, we talked, we kissed some more, then he saw me back here before he left."

"You mean, Cap'n was here and didn't come in to say hello?" Chris asked. "Well, we know how he feels about us, don't we, Alex?"

"Seriously."

Skyler rolled her eyes at them. "He thought it would have been a little awkward with Alex. I think he might be a little scared of you."

"Excellent!" Alex responded. "I strike fear into the heart of the captain."

"Only because you're my brother," Skyler explained.

"Good enough for me."

"This'll make practice _really_ interesting," Chris said.

"We want to keep it quiet," Skyler said, fixing Chris with a glare. "If word gets out, I'll kill you."

"What if I didn't do it?"

"I don't care," Skyler said. "What movie were you watching?"

"_Terms of Endearment_."

"Of course you were."

The following days were filled with practices that were long and tiring. Oliver wanted the team to stay in top shape as they were going into the finals for the League Cup. Oliver spared no expense in getting Puddlemere ready to face the Falmouth Falcons, again, for the chance at the Cup.

Oliver knew that he would be facing an England teammate and that James Hart, the rouge Beater, would know some of his strategy. There was also the fact that Hart had nearly killed his girlfriend… Skyler… last time the two teams had met. And there was the whole calling her a "Mudblood whore" thing as well, but Oliver wasn't worried. He had faith in his team and was impressed with how they had been handling the insane practices he was putting them through. He knew that having them run drills into the late hours of the night wasn't putting him in their good graces, but he knew that they'd be thrilled once they'd won the Cup. They would see that all the effort would not be in vain. It would all be worth it.

At least that's what he told himself while he was showering in the locker room after a particularly long practice. Most of the team had just left, preferring to shower at their homes, rather than wait around for the showers in the locker room. Oliver suspected that they just wanted to go home and go to sleep. He had heard Juliet and Lucinda complaining that they never saw their husbands all that much anymore. Then he heard them say that the sex had never been better though. That was when he tuned out of that conversation.

Oliver stepped to his locker, saw Skyler sitting on the bench reading, and watched her for a moment. She was reading _To Kill A Mockingbird_, one of the best books in the world, she had told him. He was supposed to read it, when she was done with it, of course. She also had told him that he should feel special that she was letting him borrow her copy. She usually never let that thing out of her sight. Oliver smiled as he watched her. Not because he enjoyed watching her, oh he did. But it was partly because he was _allowed_ to watch her. She looked up from her book at him and smiled shyly.

"What?" she asked. Oliver smiled and shook his head.

"Nothing," he said before turning to open his locker. "Just watching you. You frown when you read."

"No, I don't," she said.

"Yeah, you do," he told her, slipping on his jeans. He turned to face her and saw that she was watching him. She turned red and brought her gaze back down to her book. Oliver grinned.

"Were you watching me?" he asked, watching her face turn redder by the second.

"No?" she spoke. He chuckled and took the book away from her face.

"You're going to get print all over your face," he told her. She looked up at him, a little of the red leaving her face.

"I'm a witch. I'll magic it off," she told him before making a face and sticking her tongue out at him.

"Aren't we mature today," Oliver observed. He turned back to his locker and tossed Skyler's book into his locker after grabbing his t-shirt. Then he felt a very feminine body press up against his back. Skyler's arms went around his shoulders from behind as she stood up on her toes to whisper in his ear.

"I'll show you how mature I can be," she said in his ear before biting his earlobe. Oliver was only vaguely aware of one of her arms moving away from his body as he felt shivers go down his spine. Then she was gone. He turned around and saw her sitting on the bench, reading again, smiling slightly.

"Okay, that's not fair," he told her.

"What's not fair?" she asked innocently. "I've just been reading." Oliver swallowed as he saw the grin she sent him. He put on his t-shirt and slipped on his shoes. When Skyler wasn't paying attention, he grabbed her arm, pulled her close to him and Disapparated them.

They appeared in Oliver's flat a few seconds later. Oliver gently pried the book from Skyler's hands and placed it on the kitchen table. He quickly covered her mouth with his before she could protest and walked them in the direction of his bedroom. Skyler had other plans. She took control of the moving and maneuvered Oliver until he was pressed up against a wall of his living room, the wall right outside of his bedroom. She never broke their connection. Oliver moaned as he hit the wall and was pushed against it by his insistent companion. He felt her hands burn as they slid slowly up his stomach and chest before they settled on his shoulders. His hands danced up and down her sides, one coming to settle on her upper back while the other stopped on her lower back, anything to bring her closer to him. They were hip to hip, chest to chest, and mouth to mouth for a few moments before Skyler pulled away.

Both were panting heavily as Oliver pressed their foreheads together.

"That was something," he managed to say some few moments later. He felt Skyler grin.

"Yeah it was," Skyler said. "I was watching you during practice today."

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm."

"What'd you think?"

"Brilliant," was the response before Skyler kissed Oliver again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, witches and wizards, welcome to the Quidditch League Cup! We are joined by the esteemed teams of Puddlemere United and the Falmouth Falcons in an unprecedented rematch! Today Puddlemere, captained by Oliver Wood, will get the chance to prove themselves once more against the tough team of Falcons," the Quidditch commentator was announcing to the stands full of eager fans. "What everyone can't wait to see is how the members of the English National team will treat each other during the game. Surely Wood, the captain for the English team, doesn't want any injuries that could hurt the team's chances of winning the World Cup. But we all know that he'll do anything when it comes to winning the League Cup!"

In the locker room, Oliver was pacing in front of his assembled team. The team members were watching his every move, their eyes following him around the room.

"You all know how important this game is today," he was saying to them. "I can't emphasize that enough. Falmouth plays tough as we know. Be careful out there. I know you can match them in strength and speed but they're bigger than us. Don't try anything stupid, anything that can get you killed. Play hard, fly straight, and stand together."

The team watched their captain with their hearts in their eyes. They knew how much this meant to him and had seen him look at Skyler when he was talking about how tough Falmouth was.

"We deserve this," he continued. "We're the best ruddy team out there. Don't let them take that from you. Play like we're the best and we will be. You'll be great. I know you will be."

He stopped pacing and looked at every single one of them. Juliet, Lucinda, and even Skyler, had tears in their eyes as he finished his speech.

"Group hug!" Chris announced before going up to Oliver and hugging him tightly. The rest of the team laughed and soon joined them. The team exchanged words of encouragement and luck as they stayed in the tight hug.

"United on three?" Harry suggested. The team smiled and nodded, breaking up to form a circle, each with a hand in the middle.

"One, two, three!" they chanted. "United!" They split up and headed to the doors leading to the pitch. Oliver pulled Skyler back for a minute, taking her into a hug.

"Good luck out there," he said into her hair.

"You too, Cap'n," she said with a smile, reserved just for him. He smiled down at her and they walked to the rest of the team.

"Here are the Falcons! Cromwell, Hart, Kensington, Mendoza, O'Hare, Tamblyn… and Simpson!"

The Falcons team flew out of their side of the stands to some cheers from the crowd. They flew around the pitch as the doors hiding the Puddlemere team burst open.

"And now, Puddlemere! McCarthy, Reynolds, Reynolds, Schmor, Warrington, Wood… and Potter!"

The team flew out into the stadium and shot off around the stands, Skyler and Alex were waving their bats around to get the crowd pumped up and into the game. Puddlemere received a lot more cheers than the Falcons. Once everyone had taken their positions in the air, the referee kicked open the equipment box and grabbed the Quaffle.

"And the game begins! Warrington comes up with the Quaffle easily. He passes to Schmor. Warrington, McCarthy, Schmor, McCarthy scores!"

The Puddlemere team relaxed a little, having scored easily on Tamblyn.

The next few hours of the game were brutal, to say the least. The Falcons seemed to have forgotten that four of the Puddlemere team members needed to be able to play the next week in the opening game of the World Cup series against France. Or maybe they remembered a little too well. While the Chasers took most of the beating, the Beaters weren't afraid to get involved in a little bodily contact.

Skyler hit a Bludger toward Falcons Chaser and Captain, Kensington while Alex body checked him into the direction of the Bludger. Kensington was hit by both and his body and pride were smarting for the rest of the game. Oliver was able to make some spectacular saves with the help of his reckless teammates. He had almost been sent into a panic when he saw Skyler and Chris physically blocking Mendoza and Kensington on their way to the goals. When Kensington called a time out after that last hit, Oliver knew he was going to have some words with his team, and some of them weren't going to be happy about it.

"What are you guys doing out there?" he asked in an exasperated voice, looking pointedly at Alex, Chris and Skyler.

"Getting the job done, Cap'n," Chris told him. "Don't get your knickers in a twist. We're being careful."

"Just don't do anything stupid," he told them.

"We won't," Skyler reassured him. "We want to be able to play for England just as much as you do." Oliver nodded and grabbed a swig of water before following his team into the air.

Right off the bat, Chris and Juliet were able to steal back the Quaffle and put it through one of the hoops to score another ten points. Alex and Skyler were able to help out the Chasers when they distracted Cromwell and Hart for a few seconds, sending Bludgers flying in their direction… from behind.

Both teams were bruised and beaten when the commentator shrieked into the air.

"Potter and Simpson have seen the Snitch!" Skyler and Alex looked at their diving Seeker and saw him nose to nose with Simpson. They shot after the Seekers, causing Cromwell and Hart to follow them. But they were too late. As Alex guarded Harry, Skyler took the opportunity to knock Simpson out of the way from beneath him. Three feet from the ground Harry caught the Snitch and toppled onto the ground, broom in one hand and the Snitch clutched in his raised hand. The stadium exploded around them.

Skyler and Alex hit the ground running. They jumped all over Harry, Skyler kissing him on the cheek as she hugged him. Chris, Juliet and Lucinda joined them soon after. Oliver, basking in the moment of his celebrating team, took his time landing to the ground. He walked slowly over to his team, stopping to shake hands with Kensington.

Skyler watched as her captain shook hands with the Falmouth captain. Once Kensington had moved on, Skyler broke out into a sprint across the field to Oliver. He grinned as he saw her running toward him, a very happy expression on her face. She jumped on him when he was near enough and wrapped her legs around his waist. He held her in place, laughing with her the entire way. The rest of the team came running over as well and all collided with Skyler and Oliver, sending everyone to the ground. The team was cheering, laughing and crying as they lay on the ground, sprawled across one another. Oliver turned his head to the right and saw Skyler smiling back at him.

"Good work, Cap'n," she told him. He grinned and cupped the back of her head, leaning over to kiss her quickly.

"Good work as well," he said. They grinned at each other and then laughed as the other team members piled on top of them.

In the locker room, Butterbeer bottles were passed around and outer robes discarded over benches and on the floor. Lucinda had the decency to hang hers in her locker. Players were lying on the floor, on benches and sitting on top of lockers. Simon Barker walked in to find his team having the time of their lives. Unfortunately he would have to break up the party.

"Alright, everyone, pay attention," he told them. "The press wants to come in so they can get some statements before they need to go to the printers." The team groaned and sat up from where they were lying down.

"Can't they just wait until tomorrow?" Chris asked. "I hate post game interviews, even if he did just win the Cup!" This sent the team into another round of jubilant cheers.

"No," Simon said. "I'm sorry. It can't wait."

The team took their usual spots on the benches and waited for the media to come rushing in. The team was in very good spirits when the media met them.

The usual questions of how everyone felt about the game were asked. Oliver was asked about his captaincy of the season and what not. Then a reporter from _Teen Witch_ asked a question.

"Oliver, are the rumors true? Are you off the market?" she asked.

"Yes, they're true," Oliver said. "I am off the market."

"Care to tell us who?" the reporter asked, all of the rest of the media paying close attention.

"That's between me and the other person."

"So, it's a mystery girl?"

"You could say that."

After a few more questions regarding the unmarried members of the team, the media left. Their answers were quite unsatisfactory by media standards. Chris was still a confirmed bachelor, bringing Alex into his ranks. Skyler was taken but refused to comment on who the 'lucky man' was. Harry also said that he was unavailable but declined to name names.

When the team spit up after the media left, Skyler pulled on her captain's arm, bringing him close to her and Disapparating with him. Oliver was shocked to say the least when he felt himself being Disapparated out of the locker room. He was even more shocked to see where he had arrived… his bedroom. He stepped back and looked at Skyler standing across the room from him.

"Hey, Cap'n, I need some help," she said to him.

"That's what I'm here for," Oliver said, unable to make anything of her statement.

"You can help me with anything?" she asked, moving a step closer. Oliver licked his lips unconsciously and nodded.

"Anything."

"Well, Cap'n. It seems that my uniform won't come off," she said, closing the distance between them. Oliver stopped breathing. "Do you mind helping me?"

"Not at all," he said, finding his voice. "As long as you promise to do the same for me."

"I'll see what I can do."

**And…**

Because I'm so mean, I'm leaving you there. That's it. That's all I'm giving you for this chapter. I promise we'll pick up right where we left off in the next chapter. I know that it's not as long as the last one, but they made me stop here.

You're awesome for reviewing (if you already have)! And you're awesome for planning on reviewing!

You guys rock and I can't believe you've been reading this story this far.


	5. Engagements and Blondes

**Notes:** Get ready for some Weasleys, obtrusive fans and a little jealousy!

**Disclaimer: **As my friend and I were discussing last night, it's sad that I don't own anything belonging to J.K. Rowling. And sadly, that includes a certain Oliver Wood.

**Chapter Five: **Engagements and Blondes

Skyler was shaking slightly when Oliver's hands played with the hem of her Quidditch sweater. Even under his careful, admiring gaze, she was still unable to quell her nerves.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Oliver said, dropping his hands.

"No, I do," Skyler said. "I'm just nervous. That's all." Oliver studied her for a few more seconds before taking the hem of her sweater back in his hands. He fingered the hem and could feel her shiver any time his finger tips would lightly graze across her stomach. Her eyes locked onto his and she held his gaze as he slowly lifted the bottom of her sweater up toward her head. She slowly raised her arms and broke her gaze with him as he tugged the sweater over her head and dropped it to the floor. She didn't protest when he reached for the top of her Quidditch pants. He ran his fingers around the top of the pants as he watched her watch his hands. He slowly undid the top button and waited as Skyler raised her head to look him in the eye. He leaned forward slightly and gently kissed her. He pulled back and could feel her watching him as he unzipped the zipper on her pants. He helped shove them to the ground and watched her feet as she stepped out of them.

Skyler looked up at him and reached for the hem of his sweater. She grabbed hold of it and took the opportunity to slip her hands underneath it, sending shivers all throughout Oliver's body. The tips of her fingers and the slight graze of her nails were undoing him. It was all he could do to keep his body in check. He closed his eyes and swallowed as he felt Skyler's hands roam all over his torso underneath his sweater. When he opened his eyes she was watching him, her blue eyes dark with desire; and all for him. She pushed up the hem of his sweater and tugged it off as he raised his arms for her. It took her more of an effort because of their height difference, but she managed. When she dropped the sweater to the ground beside hers, they were smiling at one another. She stood on her toes and reached up to kiss him deeply. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. He reached up to her hair and pulled out the hair tie that was entangled in it. Her auburn hair floated down around them and she pulled back, shaking her head to get her hair to sit where it usually did. Oliver watched her with a smile.

He picked Skyler up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to his bed. He laid her gently on the bed and placed himself over her. He carried his weight on his hands before he lowered himself slowly until she was trapped underneath him. He felt her hands travel down his body and find the closure of his pants as he kissed her. First the button was undone, followed by a slow, careful opening of the zipper. Once he was able to push down and kick off his pants, Oliver looked into Skyler's eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked again, his voice every bit serious. She smiled, nodded and pulled him back down to kiss her. Together they melded into one.

The next morning Oliver woke to find himself sore but very relaxed. He looked down and saw an auburn head resting on his chest, rising and falling with every breath he was taking. He saw that he had a hand tangled in her hair, and he didn't mind one bit. One of Skyler's hands was resting on his chest, beside her head. He felt her take deeper breaths and begin to shift around. He intertwined the fingers of his right hand with those of the hand resting on his chest and waited for her to wake up. Her eyelashes ticked his chest as her eyes opened. He felt, rather than saw, her blink a few times before she shifted her head to look sleepily up at him.

"Morning, love," he told her, before kissing her forehead.

"Morning," she said, nuzzling her face into his neck.

"You feeling alright?" he asked.

"Just a little sore," she said, smiling slightly. Oliver grinned and shifted so they were lying on their sides, facing each other, their heads level with one another.

"And what are we sore from?" he asked, grinning impishly.

"Well, there was that Quidditch game we played yesterday," she said, yawning and stretching. "There might have been some other reason. I know some muscles are sore that shouldn't be sore from playing Quidditch."

"Bad sore?" he asked.

"Oh, no. Quite a good sore if you ask me," she said, matching his grin. "And you?"

"Actually I think I'm just sore from the game," he told her. She gaped at him, picked up a pillow they had knocked to the floor the night before, and hit him with it. He protested, quoting abuse and other lame excuses.

"That's what you get for loving a Beater," she told him, smiling. Oliver smiled with her.

"Yeah, that's what I get," he said. "What do you get for loving a Keeper?" Skyler thought for a minute.

"His sheets," she said before pulling the red sheet off the bed and wrapping herself in it. She ran out of the bedroom with Oliver searching for a pair of pajama pants to put on before he followed her. He walked out of his bedroom and found her in the kitchen, still wrapped in the sheet, looking at the food he had in his refrigerator. Oliver came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Work up an appetite?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Just thirsty," she said.

"What do you say we get dressed and go down to the pub for breakfast?" he asked. She closed the fridge and turned around in his arms. She kissed his jaw before answering.

"Sounds good," she said before turning to go back into the bedroom. "Hey, guess what."

"What?"

"We won yesterday," she said with a smile.

"We certainly did," Oliver agreed.

When they got to the Leaky Cauldron, Oliver and Skyler were dressed and ready to eat. What they weren't ready for was seeing Alex and Chris sitting in the pub. Oliver and Skyler walked in hand in hand and stopped upon seeing their two teammates sitting at a table. Oliver looked warily between Skyler and the table. It could have been because Alex was her twin brother and overprotective, but that was just a minor detail. What they were really worried about was the reaction to their quick escape from the locker room after the match the previous day. They moved to turn around and leave the pub when Chris and Alex called them over to their table. Skyler and Oliver shared a look before heading over.

They sat in the two empty seats and the table and faced the Chaser and the Beater.

"So… how was your night?" Chris asked.

"Fine, why?" Skyler responded.

"Just wondering," he said. "You two disappeared quickly yesterday. Anything you'd like to share with the class?"

"No," Skyler said firmly. Chris looked to Oliver with his eyebrows raised and Oliver shook his head.

"Oh! Harry was telling me about something that Ginny said we should all go to," Chris said. "Something about a huge get together at the Weasleys' house. He told me that she told him to invite everyone."

"That sounds good," Oliver said. "When is it?"

"Tonight."

The Burrow was crammed with people when Oliver, Skyler, Alex and Chris arrived, decked out in casual Muggle wear. After talking to Harry, they were strictly instructed to only wear Muggle clothes, and that it would be casual. Oliver found this to be easy as that was pretty much all the team wore anyway. He had always found that a pair of Muggle jeans and a t-shirt to be much more comfortable than cumbersome wizard's robes.

Oliver, Skyler, Alex and Chris were greeted before they even made it to the house. Walking up the drive they saw some of the family running around the front yard. Many redheads and their significant others were hanging out in the drive of the Burrow.

"Oliver Wood!" the group heard someone yell before two identical redheads came running down the drive, picked up their former captain (who protested the entire time) and carried him back up the drive, dropping him on the ground once they'd reached the porch.

"Those are the Weasley twins," Chris explained. "Fred and George. They were Beaters for Gryffindor for a while. Some of the best, just behind you two, of course. They're running the best joke shop in the country now." Skyler and Alex smiled when they saw the other set of twins joking around and laughing with Oliver as they walked up the path to the door.

On their way up they ran into Harry and his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. The story was that after the defeat of Voldemort, Harry had been spending a lot of time around the Weasley household when he wasn't spending time on the Quidditch pitch. A certain Miss Weasley would help him practice. The relationship that they had started in Hogwarts ignited again and they had been inseparable ever since.

Oliver watched as Skyler talked with Ginny like they had known each other their entire lives. They laughed, joked and talked Quidditch for a while before Ginny took the opportunity to introduce Skyler and the others to her family. Oliver was still talking with the Weasley twins when Ginny brought Skyler over to meet them.

"Fred, George!" she yelled, interrupting their tirade. "This is Skyler Reynolds."

Fred and George's faces lit up with recognition.

"_The_ Skyler Reynolds?" Fred asked. "The Beater that's so crazy she took on a guy three times her size and won?"

"The Beater who would do anything at all costs to win a game?" George asked.

"The Beater that our former captain won't stop talking about?" Fred asked, him and George looking at Oliver. Skyler chuckled a little at the pink tinge on his face.

"That would be me," Skyler responded, shaking the twins' hands. After shaking her hand, they knelt on the ground before her and bowed at her feet.

"We're not worthy," they kept saying. Skyler smiled, embarrassed.

"Guys!" Ginny yelled. "Get up." The twins stood up and brushed off their knees.

"Want to head inside?" Oliver asked Skyler. She nodded and they entered the Burrow, following Ginny, who insisted that everyone know each other.

Ginny found her mother in the kitchen, preparing the large dinner with the help of Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson.

"And these are the prats' girlfriends," Ginny said, gesturing to Katie and Angelina. The two girls hugged their former captain before turning their attention to Skyler.

"Fred and George accosted you, didn't they?" Angelina asked, looking in the direction of the yard.

"Sorry about that," Katie said. "We've been trying to get them to stop, but they just won't listen."

"It's alright," Skyler said. "I'll get used to it."

"Oliver, darling," Angelina started. "Why don't you join the boys outside? We need some girl talk. Skyler needs to be prepared for this dinner. And we have stories about you that she probably doesn't know about."

Oliver looked warily at Angelina and tightened his grip on Skyler's hand, opening his mouth to protest. However Ginny was quicker.

"Go outside now," she told him, taking his hand away from Skyler's and leading him toward the door. He went out with a wave and Skyler waved back before turning to the girls, laughing.

"We just really wanted to get to know you better," Angelina told Skyler as Skyler stepped up to help with the food. "There's only so much you can know about a person through a letter."

"Well then," Skyler began. "What do you want to know?"

"How's he in bed?" Angelina asked bluntly. Skyler turned red, bowed her head and started laughing.

"I think I'll be okay for quite a while," Skyler told them. "If you know what I mean."

"Oh, we know what you mean," Ginny said, making sure her mother and Tonks were still out of the kitchen, tending to the table in the backyard. The girls shared a laugh and looked out the window facing the front yard when they heard a crash. They could see their significant others playing some sort of game where they ended up in a pile on the ground.

"And yet," Katie said. The other girls smiled at her, catching her meaning. Skyler turned to Angelina.

"So Angelina, about those stories," she said, causing Angelina to smile.

When the large party sat down to dinner at the long wooden table in the Weasleys' backyard, Skyler grinned mischievously at Oliver as she sat down next to him. Oliver looked at her and paled.

"What did Angelina and Katie tell you?" he asked, a little terrified at the prospect of the answer.

"Oh, nothing," Skyler said, scooping food onto her plate. Oliver wasn't deterred.

"Don't lie to me," he said, taking the potato salad she handed to him.

"I'm not lying," she said. "I'm just not telling you what they told me."

"Is it bad?" Oliver asked. Angelina and Katie were sitting across from them, listening.

"No, it wasn't _all_ bad," Skyler told him. "I'm just glad that you've grown and matured. And relaxed."

"They told you about Quidditch, didn't they?" he asked, eyeing his former Chasers.

"Maybe."

Night soon fell and the party was still going strong. The unusually warm night made the Weasleys bring out blankets for everyone to sit and lay on as they ate homemade ice cream and watched the stars appear. The girls were sitting together as the boys sat on another blanket, on the other side of the group.

"Oi! Angelina!" Fred called over.

"Yeah?"

"Want to get married?" he asked. The entire group went silent and watched Angelina, anticipating her reaction. She gave him an appraising look before answering.

"All right then." Cheers filled the night air as Fred and Angelina stood up and walked to each other, kissing each other and hugging when they met. The girls that had been sitting with Angelina smiled at each other.

"That's so cute," Ginny was saying.

"Stupid Fred," a male voice said. "He had to go and show us all up." The girls turned and recognized the voice to be that of Harry's. He had come over to sit with Ginny, bringing along George, Oliver, Chris and Alex.

"Now he's just planting ideas into your heads," Chris said. The girls rolled their eyes.

"Just because one couple gets engaged doesn't mean that everyone has to get engaged," Skyler said. Oliver sat down behind Skyler and pulled her back so she leaned against his chest. He kissed her cheek as the rest of the guys sat down.

"When's the wedding?" Chris asked.

"Why? Are you planning on attending?" Oliver asked, knowing Chris' hesitation in going to weddings or any other celebration of love.

"I might go," he said. "I make exceptions for friends. I'm just deciding who to tell about the wedding. Eventually I'll need a date."

"You know what might help out with that?" Skyler asked. "Settling down." Chris looked shocked at the idea.

"And deny all the ladies a chance with perfection?" he asked. Skyler burst out laughing. Everyone else looked shocked. "You know, Sky, I'm surprised that you managed to keep your hands off of me."

"Oh, believe me," Skyler said, "it was very easy." Everyone laughed at the look of shock on Chris' face. Albeit Chris was very handsome, no one could deny that, it was just the simple fact that Skyler could very easily keep her hands off him.

"Why is it so easy?" Chris asked, genuinely shocked.

"It's not that I don't find you attractive," Skyler said. "I do. It's just dealing with you on a regular basis tires me out. I couldn't handle you all the time."

"So you're only with Wood because he 'doesn't tire you out'?" Chris asked, looking at Oliver suggestively.

"No," Skyler said. "He doesn't tire me out on a regular basis. On an irregular basis, however, is a different story."

"Alright," Alex said. "_That_, I didn't need to hear."

"Sorry Alex. But if Chris needs a reason for my argument," Skyler pointed out, "then I'm going to have to give him one." The group laughed and Oliver buried his head into Skyler's shoulder, rapidly turning an interesting shade of pink.

The next few days went by in a stream of excitement, embarrassment and annoyance. Everywhere a member of Puddlemere United went there was bound to be someone that recognized them. Essentially this led to screaming, the asking of autographs and a lot of picture taking. Some handled this in stride, those being Juliet and Lucinda. Others hammed it up, Chris and Alex. Some just got plain annoyed, Skyler, Oliver and Harry. Now, it wasn't the fact that fans were asking for autographs or for pictures that annoyed the latter three. No, it was the constant questioning of who they were dating, why they wouldn't tell anyone, and why that person was better than everyone else. On several occasions the Quidditch stars were left tongue-tied and flustered at the insistent questions.

Normally Skyler wasn't a jealous person, but when she was having lunch with Oliver, Harry, Alex, and Chris, she felt a side of her come out that she had never experienced before. They were in the middle of eating their food when a few rather busty blondes came up to the table, intent on talking to the famous Quidditch captain.

"You're Oliver Wood, aren't you?" one of them asked, twirling her hair around her finger. Oliver stopped eating and looked at the others at the table with a "here we go again" look.

"Yeah, I am," he said. "Can I help you?" The blonde leaned down so her elbows were resting on the table, and got right into Oliver's face. Alex could feel his sister tense up beside him. He put a firm hand on her shoulder to stop her from springing up and shoving her fork into the blonde's neck. Not that Alex would mind that. The blonde was pretty annoying. He just wanted to eat his food without blood on it. And they couldn't afford for Skyler to go to Azkaban just yet.

"We were wondering," the blonde continued. "If you weren't doing anything after lunch if you wanted to join us for the rest of the day."

"I can't," he said. "We have practice."

"Are you sure?" the blonde asked, moving closer to Oliver. The rest of the table was watching Skyler. She wasn't taking her eyes off of the blonde. "You don't want to just skive off practice? I'm sure you don't need it anymore."

"I'm sure," Oliver said. "I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate me spending a day with three girls."

"She doesn't have to know."

"She'd know," Oliver said, glancing at Skyler. "Somehow I think she already knows that you're talking to me."

"There's no way she can be better than any of us," the blonde said. Oliver raised his eyebrows at her.

"Actually," he said. "I don't know if I could find anyone better than _her_. She's quite the catch and I'm very happy." The blonde stood up, suddenly very frosty.

"Fine," she said, "we'll leave you all alone. Have a good practice."

"Oh, we will," Skyler said toward the blondes. They turned and saw Skyler smiling sweetly at them. They scoffed and exited the pub, but not before tripping slightly on their way out. Skyler turned back to the table, putting her wand back into her pocket. She sighed and slumped in her seat, picking at her food with her fork.

"You know, Sky," her brother said, "I'm proud of you. You didn't manage to lose your cool and kill her." Skyler grinned a little, more to herself than anyone else as she looked down at her food. Then she raised her gaze to meet her brother's.

"Oh, I was killing her," she said. "Maybe not in reality, but in my head it was a beautiful scene."

"How'd it go?" Oliver asked from across the table. Skyler looked up at him, noticing how shiny his eyes were.

"Fork in the neck and then kicking her out the door, sitting back down at the table and calmly finishing lunch," she told him. He smiled and nodded.

"Nice."

"I'm kind of disappointed that it didn't happen," Chris said, wistfully. "That would have been some good entertainment. And the best part is that I can really see that happening. Sky would easily kick her arse." The group laughed.

"Do we really have practice, or were you lying?" Harry asked, everyone going back to their food.

"I was lying," Oliver said. "That was the first thing that came into my head; besides telling them that Skyler would actually kill them _and_ me if anything like that happened."

"Damn straight," Oliver heard his girlfriend say. He smiled at her from across the table and received one in return.

Later that afternoon, Oliver opened the door to his flat, letting Skyler in before walking in. As soon as he closed the door his back was pushed up against it and his mouth was occupied. When Skyler pulled away she smiled at him.

"What was that for?" Oliver asked smiling. "Not that I'm complaining, by any means."

"For earlier," she told him. "Something about you telling some rather annoying girls that your girlfriend was far better than them."

"Well I wasn't lying," he said. Skyler smiled before kissing him again. She pulled back and took his hand, leading him toward his bedroom.

"You, Mister, are about to get very lucky."

**And…**

Another chapter is done! Whoo! Thanks for reading and all that. Hope you enjoyed. There was a substantial lack of Quidditch in this chapter but the next one will more than make up for it.

As always, thanks for reviewing. I can't put into words how awesome you guys are. Okay, maybe I just did, but still. Thanks again!

Oh! And I'm sorry if I offended anyone who's blonde. It wasn't meant to be an insult.


	6. Injuries of Different Kinds

Oliver was in the hospital again, only this time not in a position of being a patient. He paced the waiting room outside of the ward for Magical Injuries still wearing his Quidditch robes. Currently three of his players were in the hospital undergoing major magical surgery and wouldn't be able to been seen for a few hours. Oliver had already been pacing for a little over two hours as he waited in the room occupied by the players' family and loved ones.

Alex Reynolds watched his captain walk back and forth in front of him. Oliver would not pay attention to anything around him except for the doors leading to the surgery ward. Alex could see Oliver flex his hands every once and a while, a tell tale sign that he was nervous. Unfortunately the only person who could calm him down, Alex's sister, Skyler, was beyond those doors Oliver kept throwing glances at.

Skyler Reynolds, James Hart and Christopher Warrington all had been injured during the Quidditch game between the international teams England and Romania. The Romanians had played a very dirty game. The game had produced more fouls than any other game Oliver could remember and had put three of his players, including his girlfriend, into the hospital. However Oliver wasn't just mad at the Romanian team, he was mad at his players for playing so recklessly against an obviously aggressive team. Most of all he was mad at his girlfriend for putting herself in danger in spite of helping their team narrowly claim victory over the Romanians.

Oliver looked up from his seat, three hours later, and saw a couple Healers come out of the surgery ward. They headed straight for the friends and family of the injured Quidditch players. The Healers motioned for everyone to keep their seats and sat down across from the small crowd.

"We've finished with them and luckily they're doing just fine," the head Healer, John Capo said. "They'll be in separate rooms up in the ward. If you'll follow me, you'll be able to see them."

The small crowd followed the Healers through the ward's doors and down a large hall. The doors of the rooms had their patients' names on the door. Upon seeing the door for Skyler, Oliver and Alex entered the room. They saw Skyler hooked up to magical monitors and several Mediwitches tending to her, blocking her from full view. The Mediwitches saw Oliver and Alex standing by the door and took it upon themselves to leave the room. Once the witches had moved, Oliver and Alex could get a good look at Skyler. She was sitting up, propped up by pillows and was awake, watching as they approached her bed. Alex moved to her left side as Oliver stayed on her right. The hospital robe did little to hide the extreme injuries Skyler had obtained from the game. Her face was taped in a couple of places and a large patch of gauze was peeking out from the neck of the robe. Her arms were bruised and cut, and her legs, although they were covered with blankets, were in the same condition as her arms.

"Hey, Sky," Alex said to her. "How are you feeling?"

"Hey," she responded. "I'm feeling like I just finished playing a mean game of Quidditch." Alex chuckled a little and Oliver even cracked a smile.

"I think Cap'n wants to talk to you alone," Alex said. "I'll see you later." Skyler nodded and closed her eyes as Alex placed a kiss on her forehead. She and Oliver watched him leave the room, leaving behind an awkward silence. Oliver sat in a chair placed by her bedside.

"This looks familiar," Skyler said. "Our roles are reversed this time." Oliver couldn't look at her.

"When they carried you out of the game I thought I had lost you," he said, looking at his hands. "I didn't know what to do with myself."

"I'm right here," Skyler said. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," Oliver said, looking her over. "You're in a hospital with a lot of injuries that most Quidditch players don't get in a year."

"Hey, I'm young," she said, smiling. "I'll bounce back." Oliver was not smiling. "What's wrong?"

"You," he said. "You're here in the hospital and acting like nothing terrible has happened. You almost died."

"I think that's exaggerating a bit," Skyler said, getting a little impatient.

"Sky," Oliver began. "When I talked to the Healers they told me that they weren't sure if you'd make it out of surgery alive. They were afraid of even performing magical surgery on you. They weren't sure if you'd survive all the magic."

Skyler averted her gaze away from her captain and boyfriend. She only looked back when she felt one of his hands take hers. She had only seen Oliver look at her in such a serious manner when they had first shared a bed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry I scared you and I'm sorry that I'm lying in this hospital bed right now. But I'm not sorry about playing that game with all my heart. I'm not sorry about playing the game I was born to play. I'm not sorry about helping us win."

"But that doesn't mean you have to get yourself killed over it," Oliver told her.

"Who was the one who told Harry to get the Snitch or die trying while you both were still in school?" Skyler countered. Oliver looked at her before smiling a little.

"I really need to keep you away from Angelina and Katie," he said. Skyler smiled and rubbed her thumb back and forth over the back of Oliver's hand.

"I love you," she told him. He smiled brilliantly at her.

"I love you, too," he said. He leaned down to kiss her quickly. "Just don't do anything stupid during games anymore."

"So during practice and outside of games is okay?" she asked. Oliver laughed at her and kissed her again.

A few days later Oliver was standing in the kitchen of his flat with Skyler supposedly still in bed. Oliver looked up when he heard footsteps on their way to the kitchen. He turned and saw Skyler, in one of his old Gryffindor Quidditch shirts and a pair of shorts, come into the room, wrapped in a blanket. Oliver looked at her warily while walking to her and kissing her on the forehead.

"You're supposed to be in bed," he told her. "Healer's orders."

"I feel fine," Skyler said. She kissed him quickly. "Really, I do." Oliver took one last look at her before scooping his arm under her knees and picking her up, carrying her to the couch and sitting down on it with Skyler in his lap. She had yelped a little in surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"How are you really feeling?" he asked her.

"My back hurts, my arms hurt and my legs are incredibly sore," Skyler said truthfully.

"You should be resting," Oliver said sternly. "You shouldn't be up and about."

"I'm not going to get back to full strength by lying in bed all day. I want to be back to where I was a few days ago," Skyler explained. "Besides, there are better things to do out here."

"And what might those things be?" Oliver asked.

"Sleeping on my favorite pillow," Skyler said, leaning her head on Oliver's shoulder and nuzzling up to him. Oliver chuckled and could feel Skyler grin against his shoulder.

"Well, since you're up to walking around the flat, are you up to going downstairs to get some breakfast?" Oliver asked. Skyler nodded.

"Just let me change first," Skyler said. She pushed herself up off of Oliver and started walking toward his bedroom, the blanket trailing behind her.

"You need some help?" Oliver asked from the couch.

"No, I'll be fine," Skyler said from his room. Oliver looked to the room in confusion. Usually she'd be up for that sort of thing. He furrowed his brow and waited for her to come out of the room changed. When she didn't come and Oliver had heard a few curse words, he stood and walked to the door of his room. He could see Skyler struggling with a t-shirt. She could barely lift her arms above her head to get the shirt on. Oliver could see tears of frustration in her eyes and his heart leapt at the sight.

"Love," Oliver said, walking into the room, unable to watch Skyler struggle anymore. She dropped the t-shirt and turned at the sound of his voice. She looked at him and he pulled her into a tight hug. "We don't have to go out if you don't want to. We can stay here and I can make you some breakfast. I can have the twins, Angelina and Katie come over."

"I thought you wanted me to stay away from Katie and Angelina," he could hear Skyler say, her voice muffled by his chest. Oliver chuckled slightly.

"I was just kidding, love," he said. "We don't have to go out if you don't want to."

Skyler pulled back from him and rubbed her eyes, wiping tears away. She looked at Oliver and sighed.

"Your shirt's wet," she told him. Oliver just shrugged. "I want to go out. I can't be cooped up here anymore." Oliver nodded.

"You want me to help you get dressed?" he asked softly. Skyler nodded and Oliver pulled her back into a hug. He kissed her sweetly before grabbing the t-shirt she had dropped and helping her into it.

A few days later, Skyler walked onto the Quidditch pitch, ready to play. Oliver, however, had a different plan. He walked up to her, very slowly, as the team watched their captain confront his girlfriend and one of his Beaters.

"Sky," he began, slowly. "I don't know if I have the strength to put up an argument against you playing. Merlin knows that my resolve will diminish the minute you look at me but I'm going to say this. I don't agree with you being out here on the pitch. If it was up to me you'd still be in bed, not playing for a few more months, but it's not up to me. And Merlin knows that you're stubborn enough to come and kill me if I locked you up. I don't want you to play, I'm not going to deny that. But I'm also not going to deny that we need you to play. The choice is ultimately up to you."

"You're right," Skyler said, taking a firm stance across from Oliver. "You do need me to play and I will play." With that the team started their practice. Alex and James Hart were also in attendance and playing rather well. It took a few plays to get Skyler back in top shape, but she was there. Oliver never looked happier than when the practice was done. His team was back. There would be no stopping them.

A week before the final of the Quidditch World Cup, in which England was a contender, Oliver was called back to London from France where the match was to be held. A mandatory meeting was put in place for the captains of the British and Irish Quidditch League before the beginning of the next season. Oliver, having been to these before, knew that all he had to do was show up and listen to what the rest of the captains were complaining about. Oliver wasn't looking forward to leaving his National team a week before the final match, but he was comforted by the fact that they promised that they would keep practicing.

In London, Oliver entered the ballroom for the captain's dinner dressed in a Muggle suit that fitted him perfectly. He looked around at the mostly male room but spotted the lone female that headed up the Holyhead Harpies. The newest captain of the Holyhead Harpies, Emma O'Neill, the Seeker that Skyler had knocked off course during her first professional match. Oliver smiled, thinking of his girlfriend that he had to leave behind in France with the team. He knew that she would be okay with her teammates looking after her in France. Alex, her brother, had shown up the day before Oliver had to leave for London.

Oliver watched with a drink in hand as Emma approached him from the other side of the room. She was holding a drink as well. He could tell that it was not her first. This dinner was designed to let the captains get to know one another and to try and get everyone to get along. Oliver was never quite sure if it was successful or not. Some captains got along quite well while others preferred to stay away from the social part of being a Quidditch captain. Oliver inwardly sighed as Emma got closer. He would socialize with a few of the captains but found that the female captains usually were quite forward and made him uncomfortable.

"Hullo, Oliver," Emma said to him when she got to him. Oliver smiled politely but could smell the alcohol permeating from her mouth.

"Hello, Emma," he said, looking for an escape route.

"How's England faring at the World Cup?" Emma asked, standing closer to Oliver.

"You know how England's doing, Emma," Oliver told her in a clipped tone. "You also know that I have a girlfriend."

"That's right," Emma said, her voice and face darkening at the mention of Skyler. "But she's not here. She's in France, probably meeting French men and other Quidditch players that are waiting to sweep her off her feet. She's young, she'll want something new."

"I trust Skyler," Oliver said, growing more impatient by the minute. "We've been together for a while and we love each other."

"Yes, but she is quite the risk-taker," Emma pointed out. "Quite stubborn. And from what I heard, she defied you in front of the National team during practice. What does that say about your girlfriend? What does that say about your teammate?" Oliver paused at Emma's words. Skyler was stubborn; there was no doubt about that. Oliver would have been in a great sense of denial if he tried to refute that statement. What bothered him most was that Emma's words were making sense and hit home.

For as fiercely loyal as Skyler was, she was pretty friendly with her fellow Quidditch players, whether they were on her team or not. She had an infectious personality and was very pretty. Oliver knew that a lot of players harbored an attraction for redheads and Skyler matched that description. And she was a damn good Quidditch player. She was so good that she made international headlines with her performance in many games and with her position on the National team. He had overheard conversations about the young Beater among a lot of Quidditch circles. It was common knowledge that Oliver was lucky to have her and that she was desired and admired by others.

France, a country known for its romanticism, was probably a dangerous place for Skyler to be on her own. Oliver knew she was young, barely close to nineteen when he was close to four years her senior. He knew that she hadn't had that much experience in relationships and would probably want to try new things with new people. Skyler was quite set in her ways.

In France, she was sitting in a Quidditch tent, laughing and joking with fellow Quidditch players, all of which happened to be men. It was not her fault that she happened to get along better with the male variety of her species than the female. She found most girls to be petty and too worried about things that they shouldn't be worried about. She worried about Quidditch. Other young women worried about clothes and make-up and shoes… well, she did worry about shoes.

Alex watched his sister from across the tent and saw that she seemed to be distracted slightly from the present company. It was very slightly and he figured that he was probably the only one who noticed it. It helped being a twin sometimes. When Alex pointed out the distracted Skyler to Chris, Chris frowned as he appraised her and then widened his eyes in recognition. Chris nodded to Alex and moved his way over to the young female Beater. He squatted down by her chair and whispered in her ear.

"Why so glum, Miss Reynolds?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him, barely turning her head to look at him as she kept her eye on the happenings in the room.

"You don't seem to be too focused on the poor French player's story," Chris told her in a slight air of superiority.

"Well, if you'd been listening, you could tell that his story is hardly entertaining," Skyler told him.

"Now don't you sound like a Slytherin," Chris told her with a grin. When she didn't respond he took the time to look at her. Her gaze was focused on something across the room and to her right. Chris followed her gaze and his own landed on a young player from the Pride of Portree, Colin McCormack. Colin was the son of the famous Weird Sisters' bassist. He followed his grandmother's and aunt's footsteps in playing for the Pride of Portree Quidditch team. Even Chris had to admit that Colin was quite attractive and no doubt had a female following large enough to rival Chris'. However that night, he seemed to be only interested in England's female Beater. And the unfortunate part was that Skyler seemed just as interested in him.

"Need I remind you that even though he is absent, your captain is still your boyfriend and will be returning to France soon," Chris told her in a stern voice. Skyler turned to him and fixed him with a glare so powerful that he leaned back from the intensity of it.

"Just what are you trying to say, Warrington?" she asked in a deadly quiet voice.

"Be careful," he said to her.

"I can't believe you would even think that I would do something like that," Skyler said, standing and walking out of the tent. Chris watched her go but his attention was grabbed by Colin, who had stood upon seeing Skyler leave, and was making his way to follow her. Chris stopped him before he could leave.

"If you know what's good for you, you will leave her alone," Chris said to him. "You will stay away from her."

"I'm going to see if she's alright," Colin said in his light Scottish lilt. "She looked upset about something the two of you were talking about."

"She's fine," Chris told him.

"Even still," Colin said, "I have every right to leave the tent when I want to." When Chris found that he couldn't argue with the younger player he stepped aside to let him pass through the tent flap.

Oliver was quite close to killing Emma back in London but kept reminding himself that if he did he would be sent to Azkaban and would probably never be heard from again. Although he was still pondering Emma's earlier words, he couldn't seem to pry her from his side all night. He was getting strange looks from his fellow captains as most knew of his relationship with his young Beater. Oliver sighed as he tried not to think of how many in the Quidditch world would know about this by morning. He ran a hand over his face when he thought about Skyler finding out from some player that wanted her for himself.

"What's the matter, love?" Emma asked Oliver, having finished drinking and seeming to sober up.

"Nothing," he answered almost automatically. He continued to watch the others around him while thinking about what could be a problem with his girlfriend. As he looked at Emma, he couldn't help be wary about the look she was giving him.


End file.
